The Colombian Alberto Enrique Giraldo Sarayaccused of spreading “fake news” about the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, worked for a US company that faked alleged Russian interference in the 2020 US presidential election, the Russian Investigative Committee reported today.
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“The defendant’s correspondence with other participants in the case, citizens of a Latin American country, was translated and investigated. It was established that they carried out their activities on behalf of the foreign organization Digital Humanity (USA),” said the Russian entity. upon completion of the investigations.
The Russian Instruction Committee recalled that Digital Humanity is related to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), banned in Russia since 2012.
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“The entire financing chain of the criminal group, which included the use of cryptocurrencies, was revealed,” the Russian investigators said.
During the investigations, information was obtained about the use by this same group of people of “a similar scheme of using mobile devices with SIM cards from Russian operators to tarnish the 2020 US elections and simulate Russian interference in said electoral campaign”, pointed out the Investigation Committee.
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“These tests will be studied to determine if they are crimes that threaten the security of the State,” the researchers added.
These tests will be studied to determine if they are crimes that threaten the security of the State.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against the Colombian citizen last April for spreading “false news” about the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, a charge that could cost him up to ten years in prison.
According to the investigation, between March 8 and 18, 2022, Giraldo Saray located several mobile devices in a Moscow shopping center for a massive remote-controlled sending of messages with false information about the actions of the Armed Forces in Ukraine.
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The Russian authorities aborted these criminal activities and carried out a search of the Colombian’s home, in which objects and documents were seized as evidence.
In addition, in the shopping center they found six hidden mobiles with external power sources, which guaranteed the massive sending of SMS.
Giraldo Saray, who has lived in the country for several years, has been in pretrial detention since his arrest.
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If convicted, he could be fined 3 million to 5 million rubles (about $40,000 to $67,000) or sentenced to five years of compulsory social work or a jail term of between 5 and 10 years.
EFE
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