A Russian court said on Tuesday French researcher Laurent Vinatier has filed an appeal against a three-year prison sentence for breaching Moscow's "foreign agent" law. He was arrested in June for allegedly gathering information on the Russian army.
Vinatier, who worked with the Swiss NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), is one of several Westerners to have been arrested in Russia since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.
"The appeal against the verdict was registered on 21 October," the Zamoskvoretsky court said on its website, a week after Vinatier's sentencing.
Vinatier has admitted guilt and said he was unaware that he should have registered as a "foreign agent" - a tag that has been almost exclusively used against Russia's domestic critics of the Kremlin.
The 48-year-old was arrested in Moscow in June and was also accused of gathering information on Russia's military.
French researcher sentenced to three years in Russian penal colony
French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded that Russia release Vinatier, whose arrest came as tensions between Paris and Moscow mounted over the Ukraine conflict.
Arrests on charges of spying and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia since the start of the war.
In early August, Russia and the West held the biggest prisoner exchange since the Cold War. After this massive swap, France called on Moscow to free all people "arbitrarily detained in Russia".
(with AFP)
