Court approves sentence of Frenchman Vinatier for evading foreign agent duties

Moscow City Court has approved a three-year colony for Frenchman Laurent Vinatier (recognized in Russia as a foreign agent), convicted of evading the duties of a foreign agent in Russia. This was reported by a correspondent of "Izvestia" from the courtroom on February 24.

The court, having considered Vinatier's appeal, decided to leave the verdict passed by the court of first instance unchanged, the appeal - without satisfaction.

On October 14, 2024 the Zamoskvoretsky court found Laurent Vinatier guilty of committing a crime under Part 3 Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentenced him to 3 years' imprisonment in a general regime colony. The state prosecution requested 3 years and 3 months in a penal colony. The defense insisted that instead of imprisonment the court imposed on him a penalty in the form of a fine.

According to the investigation, from April 23, 2021 to August 26, 2022 Vinatier collected information in the field of military and military-technical activities, as well as information on mobilization, about which he had to notify the appropriate authority in the Russian Federation. The French citizen received information on the deployment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, as well as information on forecasts of the course of military activities. According to the investigation, the information received by Vinatier could have been used against Russia.

The man was detained in June, at the same time the court arrested him. In the same month, the Ministry of Justice included him in the register of foreign agents. French President Emmanuel Macron called Vinatier's criminal trial an element of propaganda and called for the man's release. The French leader said the detainee "in no way worked for France."

Russia's Investigative Committee said on July 3 that Vinatier had pleaded guilty to illegally collecting information on military topics. According to the media, the Frenchman's property was seized. At the session of the Moscow City Court on July 4, the defendant said that he had never used his activities against the Russian Federation because he loves this country and his wife is a Russian.