MOSCOW: Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky court has sentenced French citizen Laurent Vinatier (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia), accused...
MOSCOW: Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky court has sentenced French citizen Laurent Vinatier (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia), accused of evading the duties of foreign agent activities and data collection, to three years in colony, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"The court has decided to find Vinatier guilty and sentence him to three years in a penal colony," judge Natalya Cheprasova announced the verdict.
Vinatier was found guilty under Article 330.1 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Evasion of Duties Provided by Russian Legislation on Foreign Agents"). He pleaded guilty in full and repented of his actions. During the trial, the prosecution demanded three years and three months of imprisonment. The defense, on the other hand, asked the court for a non-custodial sentence, arguing that the punishment requested by the prosecution was too harsh.
The case was considered in a special order, so the court could not impose on the French citizen a sentence exceeding two-thirds of the maximum provided for by this article.
According to the investigation, from April 23, 2021 to August 26, 2022, Vinatier collected information on Russia's military and military-technical activities, as well as information on mobilization, about which he had to inform the appropriate Russian authority. The French citizen received information on the deployment of the Russian armed forces on the territory of Ukraine, as well as information on forecasts of the course of military activities. The investigation said that the information received by Vinatier could have been used against Russia. On June 21, Vinatier was included by the Russian Justice Ministry in the register of foreign agents.
He is an employee of the Swiss non-governmental non-profit organization Center for Humanitarian Dialogue and was detained in Moscow in early June.
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