Russia jails French researcher for three years

By AFP
October 15, 2024
French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who is suspected of illegally collecting sensitive Russian military information, sits inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia October 14, 2024. — Reuters
French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who is suspected of illegally collecting sensitive Russian military information, sits inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia October 14, 2024. — Reuters

MOSCOW: A Russian court on Monday sentenced a French researcher to three years in a penal colony after finding him guilty of breaching a “foreign agent” law. The trial of Laurent Vinatier, who works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, comes amid tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine war.

The 48-year-old was arrested in Moscow in June and charged with gathering information on Russia´s military without being registered as a “foreign agent”. Judge Natalya Cheprasova at Moscow´s Zamoskvoretsky district court ruled that Vinatier was guilty and sentenced him to three years in a penal colony, two years less than the maximum possible sentence, an AFP journalist in the courtroom heard.