The Regional Court in Sosnowiec, southern Poland, announced the decision on Monday during a preliminary hearing in the case of Igor R. and his wife Irina R., news outlets reported.
The trial is now scheduled to open on January 20, with additional hearings set for February 11 and March 17.
The proceedings were initially expected to begin this week, but the date was postponed due to the illness of one of the defence lawyers, according to Polish state news agency PAP.
Court spokesman Grzegorz Gałczyński said the prosecution had requested privacy, arguing that the case involves "sensitive matters connected to Poland’s security."
He added that other suspects remain at large, and an open trial could risk revealing information useful to them.
The couple were arrested in July last year and have remained in custody since.
Suspected spies for Russia
Prosecutors allege that between February and August 2022, Igor R. cooperated with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) by collecting information on Russian opposition activists living in Poland and on groups supporting them.
He is accused of passing this material to his wife on an encrypted device so that she could deliver it to Russia.
Investigators say Irina R. tried to get the information to Russian officials, including by sending a parcel and attempting to make contact with FSB officers once in Russia.
Igor R. also faces a separate charge linked to a shipment containing explosives that was intercepted in a courier warehouse in central Poland in July 2024.
Prosecutors say he acted with two Ukrainian nationals and another Russian citizen to send the package, which was found to contain powerful explosive material and components for an improvised device.
A Ukrainian woman who dispatched the parcel, Kristina S., was convicted earlier this year by a court in Piotrków Trybunalski, central Poland.
(ał/gs)
Source: PAP