Igor Sutiagin sentenced to 15 years in correctional colony
5.10.09
Igor Sutiagin used to be a scientific employee of the Institute of USA and Canada at the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was plead guilty of espionage and passing secret information to a foreign company.
His trial begun in 1999. In April 2004 Moscow Municipal Court sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment in a maximum-security correctional colony.
In fact, information delivered by Sutiagin was public, not classified. Some independent observers claim, that the real reason for Sutiagin’s sentence was not what he was formally accused of, but his legitimate connections and influences among foreign companies. Scientists, journalists and human rights defenders point out to the fact, that information coming from open sources cannot be deemed state secret.
According to Amnesty Interantional he is considered political prisoner and a victim of political repression.
