{"id":11096,"date":"2025-10-16T22:37:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newyorkmirror.us\/?p=11096"},"modified":"2025-10-16T22:37:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:37:26","slug":"oslo-court-convicts-former-embassy-guard-of-espionage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/oslo-court-convicts-former-embassy-guard-of-espionage\/","title":{"rendered":"Oslo Court Convicts Former Embassy Guard of Espionage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An Oslo court<\/strong> convicted a 28-year-old Norwegian man<\/strong> of spying for Russia and Iran<\/strong> on Wednesday. The man, a former security guard at the US Embassy in Norway<\/strong>, received a three-year and seven-month prison sentence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors<\/strong> said he shared confidential details<\/strong> about the embassy\u2019s diplomats, floor plans<\/strong>, and security procedures<\/strong>, according to Norwegian state broadcaster NRK<\/strong>. The man admitted the facts<\/strong> in the indictment but denied criminal intent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NRK reported that his disapproval of US ties to Israel and the Gaza war<\/strong> led him to contact Russian and Iranian officials<\/strong>. Authorities said he passed on sensitive information while working at the embassy, compromising its operational privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Defence Challenges Definition of Espionage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, defence attorney Inger Zadig<\/strong> from Elden Law Firm<\/strong> argued that the verdict misinterprets Norwegian espionage law<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cHe lied about holding security clearance and exaggerated his role,\u201d Zadig said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She claimed the man had minimal access<\/strong>, equivalent to that of a janitor<\/strong>, and that the information he shared held no intelligence value<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cNothing he disclosed could harm individuals or national security,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The court found him guilty of five espionage-related charges<\/strong> but acquitted him of gross corruption<\/strong>. His lawyers are considering an appeal<\/strong>, while prosecutor Carl Fredrik Fari<\/strong> said his team might appeal the sentence<\/strong>, since the state requested more than six years in prison<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of his arrest last November<\/strong>, the defendant was pursuing a bachelor\u2019s degree<\/strong> in security and preparedness<\/strong> at Norway\u2019s Arctic University (UiT)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Norway Tightens Security as Espionage Cases Rise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to NRK, this is the second espionage case<\/strong> involving a UiT student in recent years. One of the individuals swapped with Russia<\/strong> during a major prisoner exchange last year<\/strong> was a UiT guest researcher<\/strong> who posed as a Brazilian named Jos\u00e9 Assis Giammaria<\/strong>. Police later identified him as Russian national Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norway shares a 198-kilometre border with Russia<\/strong> in the Arctic. Since Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine<\/strong>, Norway has restricted Russian entry<\/strong> and tightened border controls<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, the Norwegian government<\/strong> said it was evaluating plans to build a fence<\/strong> along parts of the border to strengthen national security amid increasing espionage concerns<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Oslo court convicted a 28-year-old Norwegian man of spying for Russia and Iran on Wednesday. The man, a former security guard at the US Embassy in Norway, received a three-year and seven-month prison sentence. Prosecutors said he shared confidential details about the embassy\u2019s diplomats, floor plans, and security procedures, according to Norwegian state broadcaster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}