Russian prosecutor seeks 17-year treason sentence for elderly scientist

16/5/2024 17:49

        Prosecutors have demanded a 17-year prison sentence for an elderly Russian scientist who is accused of handing secret information to German intelligence, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Thursday.
        
        Anatoly Maslov, 77, is accused of treason in a trial that is closed to the media.
        
        Kommersant said the defence argued such a jail term would be tantamount to a death sentence, given Maslov's age and poor state of health. It quoted one of his lawyers as saying he suffered a heart attack at the start of this year.
        
        Maslov, arrested in June 2022, is one of three scientists from the same Siberian institute who are all accused of betraying state secrets.
        
        They all worked in hypersonics which underpins the development of hypersonic missiles - cutting-edge weapons capable of carrying payloads at up to 10 times the speed of sound to punch through air-defence systems.
        
        The scientists deny their guilt.