February 17, 2023
A Swedish court convicted two Iranian-Swedish brothers and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms for spying for Russia and its GRU military intelligence service.
Peyman Kia, 42 years old, who was born in Iran and came to Sweden when he was about five years old, was sentenced by Judge Mans Wigen to life in prison January 19. Prosecutors called him the “driving force” behind the brothers’ decade-long espionage plot.
Payam Kia, 35, who was born in Sweden, was sentenced to nine years and 10 months in jail.
The brothers were accused of passing about 90 secret documents from the Swedish security and intelligence service, SAPO, where the older brother worked, to Russian intelligence between 2011 and 2021, according to the Stockholm District Court.
The court said that evidence submitted by the prosecution included traces of classified information stored on a private computer and large amounts of cash handled by the older brother, along with journal entries found on a USB stick belonging to his younger sibling.
The court concluded that it had been proven “beyond reasonable doubt that the brothers, jointly and in consultation, unauthorized and for the benefit of Russia and the GRU, acquired, forwarded and disclosed information, the revelation of which to a foreign power could harm Sweden’s security.”
Both brothers denied any wrongdoing during their trial.