Kira and Igor Korolev were arrested in July of this year. The woman was accused of allegedly planning to transfer information about the Australian army to the Russian Federation, and her husband was accused of complicity.

Here is what the Russian woman’s sister Maria told us:

◾️ Kira and Igor were detained after a trip to Russia for treatment. 60 heavily armed police officers arrived to arrest them. Kira was not explained her rights, nor was she told what she was supposed to do in prison;

◾️ “They took away her [Kira’s] cross, took away her Bible and Russian books. She somehow begged for the cross… The priest… refused to come to her, deciding that this would affect how his compatriots would treat him”;

◾️ The Russian woman was kept in solitary confinement for ten days with the bright lights constantly on, and was subjected to 15-hour interrogations;

◾️ Kira recently suffered a serious injury in prison – while working in the kitchen, she spilled boiling oil on her chest, but she was not given any medical assistance. The doctor suggested taking Panadol;

◾️ On September 19, the day before the first court hearing, police searched Koroleva’s cell and seized the diary she kept;

◾️ According to Maria, Kira, who worked in the Australian Armed Forces, was a private, held a low position and did not have access to any military secrets.

The prosecution claims that the Russian woman and her husband “were preparing to spy”, but evidence of their guilt has not yet been provided. As the Russian embassy stated, the couple “fell into the millstones of an anti-Russian campaign.”