At the time when Svetlana Timofeva, the Russian blogger, is trying at all costs to prevent extradition to her country, with the argument that she is being persecuted politically, the investigations by the Elbasan prosecutor's office against the 33-year-old and her two friends, Mikhail Zorin and Fedir Alpatov, have remained hostage to the dismantling of 5 mobile phones.
At the time of the arrest of the two Russians and the Ukrainian Alpatov, who tried to enter the military plant of Gramsci, 8 mobile phones were seized by the police, three of which have been examined. Sources close to the investigation group say that nothing valuable for the investigation has emerged from their communications, except for the fact that their contact in Albania has been identified, but has not yet been called for questioning. While the other mobile phones could not be opened and examined, the prosecutor's office is undecided if it can turn to partner countries for their expertise.
Earlier, for serious criminal cases or investigations of crime bosses, cell phones were sent for examination abroad, but since Timofeva and her friends are being investigated under suspicion of espionage, this decision-making becomes difficult. This is as long as the data that can be discovered on these mobile phones could compromise national security by being in the hands of experts from another country.
So far, the prosecution has the testimony of Mikhail Zorin, who has agreed to cooperate with our authorities, while from the surveillance of the drone and mobile devices, images and photos of various engineering works, which are also known as critical civil infrastructure, have been discovered, as well as base or military unit. The blogger Timofeva and the other two were arrested in August 2022, first after the Russian Zorin had attacked two soldiers with a spray inside the Gramshi factory and are being held in custody under suspicion of espionage./News24