A Russian court said on Tuesday French researcher Laurent Vinatier had filed an appeal against a three-year prison sentence for breaching Moscow’s “foreign agent” law, a case condemned by Paris.
Vinatier, who works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, is one of several Westerners to have been arrested in Russia since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.
Read moreRussia jails French researcher Laurent Vinatier for three years in ‘foreign agent’ case
“The appeal against the verdict was registered on October 21,” 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 President Emmanuel Macron has demanded that Russia release Vinatier, whose arrest came as tensions between Paris and Moscow mounted over the Ukraine conflict.
Western countries have accused Moscow of arresting their citizens on baseless charges to use them for prisoner swaps.
In August, Russia and the West held the biggest prisoner exchange since the Cold War.
(AFP)
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