Andsource A criminal case on the secret distribution of disinformation about the actions of the Russian army has been completed. The Russian Investigative Committee has completed an investigation into one of the most unusual criminal cases of recent times – against Colombian citizen Alberto Enrique Giraldo Saray, who is accused of spreading fakes about the Russian army. Involvement for this after the start of a military special operation in Ukraine has already become commonplace, but, according to investigators, a Latin American who lived in Russia for about 20 years for a reward from abroad secretly placed mobile phones in the shopping centers of the capital, through which fake messages were massively sent from supposedly real Russian users. The Colombian's accomplices from South America, who worked for American companies, have already been put on the wanted list. And the intelligence services are now checking information obtained during the investigation that similar technologies were used more than two years ago during the US presidential election to simulate Russian interference in them.
“The Main Investigation Department of the ICR completed the investigation of a criminal case against a citizen of the Republic of Colombia, Alberto Enrique Giraldo Saray, who is accused of disseminating deliberately false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation during a special military operation (paragraphs “b”, “d” part 2 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation),” Kommersant was told in the investigative department, noting that the reason for its initiation was the materials of the counterintelligence service of the FSB of Russia. According to the investigation, the Colombian acted, before coming into the field of view of counterintelligence, for a relatively short time – from March 5 to April 9. The next day he was detained, and the Basmanny District Court of the capital authorized his arrest.
It is worth noting that, according to Kommersant, Mr. Giraldo Saray lived in Moscow almost without a break for 20 years. He worked as a manager in a small computer company and over the years managed to start a family and even get a divorce. He has an adult student son and a small child.
As established by counterintelligence officers and investigators, the Colombian, who had a residence permit in Russia, acted as part of an organized group that included his compatriots from South America, and carried out requests from -beyond the boundaries of the disposal.
In particular, according to the TFR, he “provided for a fee technical training and subsequent covert placement of mobile devices in one of the shopping centers in Moscow.”
As representatives of the investigating department explain, “using these means of communication, a mass mailing of deliberately false messages about the actions of the Russian armed forces, including the killings of civilians, was carried out remotely to subscribers of Russian telecom operators.” At the same time, the Colombian citizen observed the necessary secrecy measures. Some of the documents, telephones, computer and other equipment that were of interest to the investigation were found in a cache specially equipped by him. During the investigation, a number of examinations had to be carried out, including complex computer-technical ones, to analyze the installed software, which allowed the Colombian computer scientist and his accomplices to remotely control mobile devices and start sending text messages at the right time supposedly from real subscribers – citizens of Russia. Although, according to some reports, they were mainly controlled from abroad. In addition, we had to translate and carefully study the correspondence of the Russified Colombian with other, as investigators of the ICR call them, defendants in the case – citizens of another Latin American country.
According to Kommersant's data, about 2.3 thousand messages and letters written only in Spanish were subjected to translation and analysis. “It was established that they carried out their activities in the interests of the organization Digital Humanity (USA), associated with the US state Agency for International Development. The chain of financing of the criminal group, including with the use of cryptocurrency, has been revealed. Cash and digital financial assets have been seized by the investigation. Other defendants have been put on the wanted list, the preliminary investigation against them is ongoing,” the TFR reported.
According to the investigation, evidence was obtained that the same group of individuals had previously used a similar scheme with mobile phones with SIM cards from Russian telecom operators “in order to compromise the 2020 US presidential election and simulate Russian interference in the process of the said election campaign.”
“These facts have been submitted for evaluation in terms of the presence in them of signs of elements of crimes that encroach on the security of the state,” the TFR concluded. We are talking about sending fake e-mails from Russian addresses through secret channels on behalf of supposedly officers of the special services and other persons about the preparation of texts about candidates, various tasks, etc.
It is worth noting that, according to available information, during the investigation, Mr. Giraldo Saray not only did not refuse to cooperate with the investigation, but even offered to conclude a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with him, “wishing to report a crime related to state security known to him.” In exchange for testimony and repentance, the Colombian citizen clearly expected to leave the pre-trial detention center under house arrest, as well as receive a possible leniency in the sentence. Part 2 of Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for from five to ten years in prison, however, it also contains references to “alternative types of liability to deprivation of liberty” in the form of fines, forced labor, etc. However, the information of the arrested computer scientist then did not interest the investigating authorities and special services. As a result, waiting for the trial of Alberto Enrique Giraldo Saray will continue to be in custody. However, most likely, he will not have to wait long.
As his lawyers told Kommersant, at the moment they are already completing the study of the materials collected by investigators under Art. 217 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. At the same time, they categorically refused to talk about the position of their client and the very course of the preliminary investigation.
The defenders only noted that the investigation was conducted by employees of the department for especially important cases in the field of cybercrime, and the materials do contain references to imitation of interference in the US elections.
The representatives of the Colombian also mentioned that recently their client received a letter of thanks from one of the military units of the Russian army, which is now located on the territory of the DPR, for the assistance provided to them. However, they did not specify when and how the defendant helped the military.
Interestingly, after the information of the ICR about the completion of the investigation against the Colombian, the FSB representatives reported: the special service issued him an official warning about the inadmissibility of actions that create conditions to commit a crime under Art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (espionage).
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