A man from St. Petersburg was sentenced to 10 years in the case of treason

In St. Petersburg, bank employee Vyacheslav Lutor was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the case of attempted treason. This is reported by the human rights project “First Department”.

Luthor will spend two years of this term in prison, and eight years in a maximum security colony.

According to Sever.Realii, Luthor was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code – attempted treason, confidential cooperation with a foreign state and participation in a terrorist organization. According to “Mediazona”, the investigation believed that Luthor was in correspondence with the “Freedom of Russia” legion and was going to leave for Ukraine to fight on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Luthor was arrested after being detained at the end of July 2023. “Mediazona” found two administrative records against Luthor: in early July 2023, he was first arrested for petty hooliganism (he allegedly cursed at the airport), and then – for disobeying the police (the court ruling stated that Luthor did not show a passport to an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ). Vyacheslav Lutor’s mother told “First Department” that her son has serious health problems and became a victim of provocation.

• In 2023, at least 148 people in Russia became defendants in criminal cases of treason, espionage, and secret cooperation with foreigners, and at least 88 such cases were brought to court. This is a historical record for the level of repression by the FSB. Human rights activists believe that the real number of cases can be much larger, and the pace of prosecution will continue to grow in 2024.

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