On Monday, October 14, Russian justice sentenced French researcher Laurent Vinatier to three years in prison, detained since June and accused of not having registered as a researcher.“foreign agent”. The court decided “declare Mr. Vinatier guilty” and of “sentence him to a prison sentence of three years”judge Natalia Tcheprassova announced at the end of the trial, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist present in the courtroom. The prosecutor had requested on Monday three years and three months in prison against the Frenchman.
The authorities accuse the accused, a specialist in the post-Soviet space, involved in attempts at informal mediation in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, of having failed to comply with his obligation to register as a citizen.“foreign agent” even while collecting “information in the field of military activities” could be “used against security” from Russia. A crime punishable by five years in prison.
“The prosecution asks to find the accused guilty. (…) I propose to impose a sentence of deprivation of liberty for a period of three years and three months, to be served in a penal colony.declared the prosecutor in the courtroom of a Moscow court, according to an Agence France-Presse journalist present.
“A message” sent by Moscow to France
“We consider that the sentence requested by the prosecutor is extremely severe”lamented one of Vinatier’s Russian lawyers, Oleg Bessonov, who recalled that his client, dressed in a light blue shirt in the dock, had “He fully confessed his guilt.” claiming ignorance. “This request is unreasonable and illegal”insisted his other lawyer, Alexeï Sinitsin. The two lawyers requested that their client be sanctioned with “a fine”.
Laurent Vinatier, 48, a representative of a Swiss non-governmental organization, was arrested in June. TO ” message “ directed by Moscow to France, according to Paris, in the context of an increasingly tense bilateral relationship. In early September, the Frenchman’s preventive detention was extended by six months on the first day of his trial, until February 21.
In recent years, several Westerners, particularly Americans, have been arrested in Russia and subjected to serious charges, and Washington has denounced the taking of hostages to obtain the release of Russians detained abroad.
On August 1, the West and Russia carried out the largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War, including American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, freed by Moscow.
