Courts: Man Charged with Espionage for Russia Receives Suspended Sentence

Banska Bystrica, February 28 (TASR) - The Specialised Criminal Court on Tuesday approved a plea bargain between a prosecutor and Bohus Grabar, who was charged with engaging in espionage for Russia, handing down a three-year sentence suspended for three years. In addition to the conditional sentence, Grabar will have to pay a fine of €15,000. By agreeing to the plea bargain, he can't appeal against the verdict. The man was charged with espionage and accepting bribes. According to the prosecution, Grabar operated as a contact for Russian GRU intelligence officers who acted under the cover of the Russian diplomatic mission in Slovakia. In 2021, Grabar promised an individual who went by the name of Sergei Solomasov that he would search for and collect sensitive and classified information related to Slovak security, the intelligence services and cooperation between Slovakia, the EU and NATO with Ukraine. He was also tasked with obtaining classified information concerning NATO and the EU and classified intelligence reports submitted to Parliament, including the Slovak Intelligence Service's (SIS) counter-intelligence activities targeting Russian speakers. For this purpose, he received a sum of €1,000. During a raid of his home, the police seized numerous USB drives, disks, computers, notes on communications plans, plans for meetings with a GRU officer and money. zel/df