The start of the trial of Frenchman Laurent Vinatier, a collaborator of a Swiss NGO arrested at the beginning of June in Russia, has been set for Tuesday, September 3, according to a notice published on the website of the Moscow courts and consulted on Monday by Agence France-Presse (AFP). According to this notice, Laurent Vinatier will be tried for failure to comply with the obligations relating to the persons designated “foreign agents”. He faces five years in prison.
Previously, he had admitted not having registered under the label of“foreign agent”explaining that he was unaware that a recent Russian law required him to do so.
Laurent Vinatier, 48, a researcher specializing in the post-Soviet space, worked in Russia for the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Swiss NGO that mediates conflicts outside official diplomatic channels.
Currently in pre-trial detention, he is due to be tried by the Zamoskvoretsky court in Moscow. His arrest came at a time of rising tensions between Paris and Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine. The Russian Investigative Committee had also suspected him of collecting information on Russian military activities, raising fears of more serious charges.
Call for the release of people “arbitrarily detained in Russia”
In recent years, several Westerners, particularly Americans, have been arrested in Russia and faced serious charges, with Washington denouncing hostage-taking to obtain the release of Russians held abroad.
The 1er In August, the West and Russia carried out the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War, including American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, who were freed by Moscow. The deal freed 16 people held in Russia and Belarus in exchange for eight Russians held in the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Norway, as well as the two children of a spy couple.
Paris then called on Moscow to immediately release the other people still “arbitrarily detained in Russia”notably Laurent Vinatier.
Source: Lemonde
