An Israeli man convicted of carrying out espionage and sabotage missions on behalf of Iranian intelligence has been sentenced to seven years in prison after accepting thousands of dollars in payment for completing assignments inside Israel.

The Nazareth District Court on Thursday sentenced 35-year-old Artyom Zolotarev, an Israeli citizen from Nof HaGalil, to seven years behind bars after convicting him of contact with a foreign agent, espionage, and property damage.

According to the court, Zolotarev maintained ongoing contact with Iranian intelligence operatives over a period of several months. During that time, he carried out multiple assignments across Israel in exchange for cumulative payments totaling several thousand dollars.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed a 12-month suspended sentence, a fine of 10,000 shekels, and ordered Zolotarev to pay 10,000 shekels in compensation to each of the four vehicle owners whose cars were directly damaged in the arson attacks he carried out.

Zolotarev was originally arrested in December 2024 after Israeli security authorities accused him of maintaining contact with intelligence operatives working for the Iranian regime and performing security-related missions in Israel under their direction in return for financial compensation.

Investigators said he was taken into custody after carrying out numerous acts of graffiti in Nof HaGalil, Haifa, and Migdal HaEmek, as well as setting fire to a vehicle in Haifa.

According to the investigation, Zolotarev spray-painted dozens of pieces of graffiti in the three cities, documenting each act with photographs and videos that he forwarded to his Iranian handler. After sending the material, he erased the graffiti because he did not want members of the public to see the messages he had written. In exchange for completing those assignments, he received $2,800 in cryptocurrency.

{Matzav.com}