Big Brother is suspected of having produced and disclosed secret information during the years 2011–2021 that he obtained through his previous work with the Security Police and the Armed Forces.
The little brother is suspected of having handled the contacts with the Russian military intelligence service GRU, which is said to have paid the brothers large sums for the information according to the indictment.
At the closing arguments, the prosecutors demanded life imprisonment for the older brother if he is convicted of aggravated espionage and twelve years in prison for the younger brother.
Privacy to a large extent
Most of the trial against the suspected brothers from Uppsala has taken place behind closed doors in the Stockholm district court.
Even the preliminary investigation is to a large extent confidential as it involves extremely sensitive information for national security according to the prosecutors.
And the lack of details makes it difficult for outsiders to assess the extent of the damage that Sweden may have sustained and how long it may take to repair the damage if the suspicions are correct.
Security policy expert Keir Giles thinks so.
- If you don't know exactly what the damage is, you don't know how deep it is or how much needs to be repaired, says Keir Giles, Russia expert at the British think tank Chatham House.
Denies the allegations
Prosecutors also have an alternative claim for the elder brother.
If he is not convicted of aggravated espionage, the prosecutors want him to be convicted of aggravated unauthorized position with a secret mission.
This means that the data was handled in an illegal way without being able to prove that there is an intention to go to a foreign power.
In that case, the maximum sentence is four years in prison and then the younger brother goes free because he is not suspected of that crime.
Both brothers have denied all charges since their arrests in September and November 2021, and have been in custody since then.
- It is categorically rejected that something incorrect or criminal would have happened, said the elder brother's lawyer Anton Strand at the trial.
Today at 11:00 a.m. the verdict will be handed down, with a press conference in the court soon after. SVT Nyheter broadcasts live.