Pushkin could not do anything. When, behind the bars of the cage of the small court of the Zamoskvoretsky district, in Moscow, Laurent Vinatier, Monday October 14, concluded his defense by quoting the great Russian poet, the judge looked him straight in the eyes. De facto hostage in the standoff between the Kremlin and Paris, the 48-year-old Frenchman, specialist in the post-Soviet space, arrested in Moscow on June 6 and prosecuted since for not having registered as a“foreign agent”admitted his guilt “full and complete”. But, standing straight in his blue shirt, his gaze both severe and charming, this father explained “fell in love with Russia twenty years ago”.
Married to a Russian woman, he constantly traveled to Moscow and Saint Petersburg to organize the “parallel diplomacy” led by the Swiss organization Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), his employer for eight years. With slightly trembling hands, he asked the judge for a “lenient and fair verdict”. Then, when the prosecutor had just requested three years and three months in prison against him, Laurent Vinatier suddenly left aside his few A4 sheets where he had scribbled his defense sentences. And, from memory, he quoted Pushkin in front of the visibly taken aback judge: “If life deceives you… Be resilient on a day of sorrow. »
An hour later, judge Natalia Tcheprassova was back in the court room. With a dry gaze immersed in her three pages of judgment, she read at full speed her verdict: three years in prison for Laurent Vinatier. That is three months less than what the prosecutor requested. But far from what the Frenchman’s lawyers were hoping for: they were pleading for a simple fine for this relatively serious crime.
“Foreign agent”
The researcher, who has written three books and signed multiple academic articles on Russia, admitted not having registered as“foreign agent”a label previously used against Russians critical of the Kremlin. But the scope of application had just been extended to certain foreigners. Laurent Vinatier did not know this. The Russian security services (FSB) for their part affirmed that the Frenchman had “collected military and technical information that could be used by foreign intelligence services against the security of Russia”. An accusation bordering on that of espionage.
Denouncing a “extremely severe sentence”the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs castigated this legislation on “foreign agents” which “contributes to a systematic violation of fundamental freedoms in Russia, such as freedom of association, freedom of opinion, and freedom of expression”. “France demands the immediate release of Laurent Vinatier and once again calls on the Russian authorities to repeal the laws on “foreign agents””adds the Quai d’Orsay in its press release.
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