Stig Bergling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stig Svante Eugen Bergling, later Sandberg and Sydholt (born March 1, 1937 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former police officer who spied for the Soviet Union.

1 Espionage and conviction
2 Escape from prison
3 References
- 3.1 Footnotes
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Espionage and conviction

He was employed at SÄPO, the Swedish Security Service, and worked in the surveillance department. Bergling also was an officer in the military reserves and for a short period he was working at the Defence Staff where he stole secret documents about Swedish military installations.

During a UN mission in Lebanon in 1973, he sold the documents to the GRU. When he came back home, he continued his espionage by delivering information about SÄPO's operations in Sweden. SÄPO soon discovered there was a leak and after some time the suspicions pointed towards Bergling, even if there was no proof. He once again applied for service in the UN but was arrested in Israel on March 20, 1979. On December 7, 1979 he was convicted in Sweden and sentenced to life in prison for treason.

[edit] Escape from prison

During the time in prison, he changed his name to Stig Svante Eugen Sandberg. On October 6, 1987 while on leave from the correctional institution in Norrköping, Sweden, he and his wife, Elisabeth, managed to escape. Via Åland and Helsinki, Finland, they managed to get to his old "employer", the Soviet Union. Under the alias of Ivar and Elisabeth Straus, the lived for a while in Moscow, and later in Hungary.^[1] However, in autumn 1990 they were moved to Lebanon. In August 1994, the couple returned to Sweden voluntarily. Bergling spent three years in prison until his release in July 1997.