ROME, January 19. /TASS/. A jury in Rome has sentenced a former Italian officer to 20 years in prison on charges of spying for Russia, the ANSA news agency reported.

According to the news agency, the prosecution asked that the man, Walter Biot, be sentenced to 18 years in jail. The agency explains that this is the second sentence handed down to Biot. In March 2023, a military court in Rome found him guilty and sentenced to 30 years behind bars but the verdict was challenged later.

Biot and an employee of the Russian embassy were detained on March 30, 2023 at a parking lot in a Rome suburb. They had a data storage device and a box with cash. Biot, a former officer of the Italian defense ministry’s general staff, is accused of espionage, leaking state secrets, and corruption. The military prosecution charges him with divulging state secrets with the aim of assisting in spying, disclosing confidential information and taking photos for the purpose of espionage.