2 Swedes get lengthy sentences in Russia espionage case

By JAN M. OLSEN
Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Two Iranian-born Swedish brothers have been given lengthy prison sentences for spying for Russia and its military intelligence service GRU for a decade. The oldest of the two naturalized Swedes was sentenced on Thursday to life while his younger brother was sentence to nine years and 10 months. They had appeared before the Stockholm District Court where they faced charges of having worked jointly to pass information to Russia from 2011 to 2021. A life sentence in Sweden generally means a minimum of 20 to 25 years in prison. Almost the entire trial was held behind closed doors and much of the information from the preliminary investigation is secret.