Moscow Court Sentences Russian Researcher ( Spy, U.S.)

[Judi Lynn]

Moscow Court Sentences Russian Researcher
By ANNELI NERMAN
Associated Press Writer
AP-NY-04-07-04 0311EDT

MOSCOW (AP)--A Moscow court sentenced Russian arms control researcher Igor Sutyagin on Wednesday to 15 years in prison for spying on behalf of the United States, a court official said.

Sutyagin, a scholar at Moscow's respected USA and Canada Institute, was jailed in October 1999 on charges he sold information on nuclear submarines and missile warning systems to a British company that Russian investigators claimed was a CIA cover.

He was convicted of treason in the form of espionage by a jury on Monday. Sutyagin has maintained that the analyses he wrote were based on open sources and that he had no reason to believe the British company was an intelligence cover.

The Moscow City Court sentenced Sutyagin to 15 years in a maximum-security prison and ruled that his prison term be counted from the moment of his detention.
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AP-NY-04-07-04 0311EDT

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V7802.AP-Russia-Spy-Case.html