A court on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) sentenced 18 people, including former intelligence employees, to jail for up to 15 years for spying for foreign countries.
Judge Gojko Ristov said evidence presented during the trial, the first of its kind in FYROM, proved the suspects’ guilt. The countries they allegedly spied for were not named.
The prime suspect Marjan Efremov, a former employee of the FYROM secret services, got 15 years in jail, while Goran Stojkov, a former police general, was handed down a nine-year prison term.
The others include interior ministry and parliament officials.
The court said the alleged spy ring was formed in 2009 and was active until 2012.
But local media reports said the members of the group were selling classified information to the intelligence services of Greece and Hungary.
The accused were arrested in September last year.
Source: AFP