“Judge Natalia Tcheprassova of the Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow sentenced French political scientist Laurent Vinatier to three years in a penal colony for collecting military data without registering as a‘foreign agent’”, reports the independent Russian site Mediazona, Monday October 14. The lawyers of the researcher, arrested on June 6 in Moscow, announced their intention to appeal.
The Russian authorities accused this specialist in the post-Soviet space working in a Swiss NGO of not having registered as “foreign agent”. During one of his previous appearances in court, Laurent Vinatier admitted the facts, explaining that he was not aware of these provisions of Russian law.
“I’m not afraid to say that I fell in love with Russia. This is reflected in my personal life: my wife is Russian, my friends are Russian. I lived a Russian life, and even today, even these last four months, I live in a Russian atmosphere. I ask that my family’s life be taken into account. All I ask, Your Honor, is a fair and lenient ruling,” declared, in Russian, the researcher during the hearing, which was attended Mediazona.
For the moment, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has not reacted to this condemnation. Shortly after his arrest in June, French President Emmanuel Macron assured that Laurent Vinatier was not “in no case […] someone who worked, who works, for France”.
