Russia: ex-business manager sentenced to 15 years in prison in espionage case
Karina Tsourkan is accused of providing confidential information to Moldova and was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Moscow City Court.
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This is one of the biggest spy cases in Russia in recent years: the Moscow city court has sentenced a former energy company executive to 15 years in prison.
Karina Tsourkan is accused of having provided confidential information to Moldova, which she categorically denies.
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“
Fifteen years in prison for an innocent person is a monstrous sentence.
It is clear that this is a dark page in the history of Russian justice
”: this is how Karina Tsourkan's lawyer reacted to the judgment, on Russian television Dozhd.
Ivan Pavlov has indicated that his client intends to appeal.
Karina Tsourkan, was on the Board of Directors of the Russian firm Inter RAO specializing in electricity, a company in which she had worked since 2005. She was arrested in 2018, accused of having provided Moldovan intelligence with documents detailing the supplies. Russian energy to Ukraine, and in particular to the warring territories of Donbass which are beyond Kiev's control.
The 46-year-old leader, of Russian citizenship, born in Moldova, denies the allegations against her.
She says she does not know any representatives of the foreign secret services and never had in her possession the documents that she is accused of having provided.
The human rights organization Memorial denounces yet another trumped up espionage trial, which is part of the authorities' efforts to "
maintain an image of Russia as a fortress besieged by its enemies
".
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To read: In Ukraine, spy war between Kiev and Moscow
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