A Russian court has sentenced a U.S. citizen to 15 years in prison for espionage.
Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency reported that Gene Spector, currently serving a four-year sentence in Russia for bribery, was charged with espionage.
Spector was born in Russia but moved to the United States and obtained citizenship.
Gene Spector, American imprisoned in Russia, sentenced to new 15-year jail term for espionagehttps://t.co/1zDOCACkC8 pic.twitter.com/aUQOSDM7nw
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) December 24, 2024
ANOTHER American Given Lengthy Prison Sentence By Russian Court For Espionage
👉 Moscow court sentenced Gene Spector to 15 years for espionage.
⚠️ Case linked to Spector’s 2020 bribery guilty plea involving a former Deputy PM aide.
‼️ Trial held behind closed doors; limited… pic.twitter.com/X1Se2smTSX
— ZeroHedge Notes (@ZeroHedgeNotes) December 25, 2024
Per CNN:
Independent Russian outlet Media Zona, who had a journalist inside the courtroom, reported that Spector was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security penal colony on espionage charges. His previous charge for bribery was added to this term, meaning he was handed down a 15-year sentence, it reported, adding that Spector was also fined 14,116,805 rubles (around $140,500).
In 2020, Spector pled guilty to mediating bribes for Anastasia Alekseyeva, a previous aide to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, state news agency TASS reported.
ADVERTISEMENTBefore this, Spector was the chairman of the board of directors of Medpolymerprom Group, specializing in cancer drugs, according to TASS.
A US official at the American embassy in Moscow told CNN in August 2023, when Spector was charged with espionage, that they believed that the US citizen was already in jail and added that they had no information on a new charge.
A Moscow court handed dual US-Russian citizen Gene Spector a 15-year sentence in a maximum-security prison on espionage charges, stacking it on top of a prior bribery conviction. pic.twitter.com/KhPfWi2wNT
— RT (@RT_com) December 24, 2024
Gene Spector was first arrested in 2020 on charges of “mediating” a bribe to the aide of a former deputy prime minister.https://t.co/hz2fUXSlvk
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) December 24, 2024
BBC reports:
Spector, whose Russian name is Yevgeny Mironovich, was born in 1972 in what is now St Petersburg, and was again living the city with his family, the agency RIA Novosti reported.
At some point in his life, he moved to the US and obtained citizenship, according to another news agency, Tass. Back in Russia, he went on to lead Medpolimerprom: a group of companies that make medical supplies.
The news comes just months after a landmark prisoner swap.
In August, 24 people were involved in an exchange between Russia and some Western countries including the US and Germany.
They included US citizens Evan Gershkovich – a Wall Street Journal reporter – and former US Marine Paul Whelan.
The trade was described as the biggest exchange since the end of the Cold War between Russia and the West.
