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Moscow City Court sentences Group-IB founder to 14 years for high treason

Hearings were held behind closed doors because they contained classified materials

MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. The Moscow City Court has sentenced Group-IB founder Ilya Sachkov to 14 years in prison after finding him guilty of high treason, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"The court found Sachkov guilty under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code (high treason) sentencing him to 14 years of incarceration in a maximum-security jail, restriction of freedom for one year and a fine of 500,000 rubles (about $5,550 - TASS)," judge Alexander Rybak said. The court took into account the time Sachkov served in a pre-trial detention facility starting on September 21, 2021, counting one day at the facility as one day of incarceration.

Earlier, the prosecution asked the court for a sentence of 18 years.

Sachkov has been in custody since September 2021. According to the prosecution, in 2011 he handed over classified information to foreign intelligence thus causing reputational damage to Russia’s national interests. He did not admit his guilt. Hearings were held behind closed doors because they contained classified materials. According to media outlets, Sergey Mikhailov, ex-director of the 2nd Department of the Directorate of the FSB’s Information Security Center, earlier sentenced for high treason, testified against Sachkov during the investigation. According to his testimony, he had handed over a number of important documents to Sachkov which later ended up in the hands of the FBI.

In 2016, Sachkov made the Forbes 30 under 30 list. He is an associate professor at the information security department of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University and served on expert committees of Russia’s State Duma and Foreign Ministry.

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