The French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who is serving a three -year sentence in a Russian prison, is now the subject of an investigation for espionage, according to judicial documents made public this Wednesday, August 20, which suggests an extension of his sentence.
According to a document consulted by AFP, Laurent Vinatier was summoned to a new hearing, this time for espionage, an accusation chief of a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
“A hearing was scheduled for August 25, 2025 at 2:30 pm,” the document said. Laurent Vinatier, who worked for an NGO of Swiss mediation in conflicts, is part of a group of western people arrested in Russia, while diplomatic tensions intensified around Ukraine.
An experienced researcher in Russia
Paris demanded from Moscow the launch of his national, accusing Russia of bringing Westerners as hostages. He was convicted of having collected information about the Russian army and having violated the law on “foreign agents” because it had not registered as such.
Laurent Vinatier, who worked as an advisor to the Humanitarian Dialogue Center, based in Geneva, is an experienced researcher in Russia and other postsoviet countries.
He declared before the Court that in his work, he had always struggled to “present the interests of Russia in international relations.”
Source: BFM TV
