A court sentenced a Romanian noncommissioned military officer and a Bulgarian citizen to 12 1/2 years in prison today for passing classified information to Ukraine, AP reported. Bucharest's Appeal Court found Floricel Achim guilty of handing over classified military information from 2002 to 2008 to his Bulgarian friend, Marinov Zikolov. Zikolov gave the information to Ukraine, which, unlike Romania, is not a member of NATO. The classified information included maps, military technical information and details on radars. Achim's superiors in the defense ministry are on trial for failing to protect state secrets. In Feb. 2009 President Traian Basescu canceled a visit to Ukraine due to a case on which Ukraine has never commented. Prosecutors said Achim admitted to the charges, saying he did it because he had «a precarious financial situation.» Prosecutors said he received up to $1,000 (¤810) for each delivery of documents. The two were arrested a year ago. They can appeal the sentence to the high court.
