September 20, 2021: The security police carry out an operation in Uppsala where the older brother, then a high-ranking manager at the Swedish Food Agency, is arrested on suspicion of gross unauthorized occupation with secret information. Shortly afterwards it emerges that he previously worked at the Security Police, the Military Intelligence and Security Service, Must, and at the Armed Forces. The suspicions against the man must have been raised much earlier and a preliminary investigation was started in 2017.
November 16, 2021: The younger brother is arrested on suspicion of aggravated espionage. In connection with that, the suspicions against the older brother, who has been in custody since the arrest, are sharpened to also apply to gross espionage. According to prosecutors, the crimes were committed between September 2011 and September 2021. Just before he was arrested, the younger brother destroyed a hard drive that was later found in a trash can.
November 11, 2022: The brothers are charged with aggravated espionage for Russia, and on behalf of the country’s military intelligence service, the GRU. The older brother is also charged with gross unauthorized position with secret information. The brothers are said to have obtained the information suspected of having been handed over to the GRU through the 42-year-old’s work at Säpo and the Armed Forces. The younger brother is said to have managed the contact with the GRU.
November 25, 2022: The trial begins under great secrecy in the Stockholm District Court. Large parts of the evidence are subject to strict confidentiality and the lion’s share of the hearing therefore takes place behind closed doors. The district court and Säpo also take special security measures to prevent wiretapping or the leaking of classified information, including special technology and a ban on eavesdropping for all participants.
December 19, 2022: The trial against the brothers ends. The prosecutor is asking for life imprisonment for the older brother, and at least twelve years in prison for the younger one. The defense wants the men, who have consistently denied any crime, to be fully acquitted. Many questions remain. The prosecutor has neither wanted to comment on whether the initiative for the collaboration came from the brothers or from the Russian side, how it all came to light or how the espionage went about.
January 19, 2023: The Stockholm district court announces the verdict in the case.