A physicist accused of treason was sentenced to 12 years in prison

The prosecution called for 12 years of strict regime prison for the scientist Valery Golubkin, who is accused of high treason. This was reported by the human rights project “First Department”.

According to the investigation, Golubkin gave his colleagues from the Netherlands reports on the international project to develop a high-speed civil aircraft on hydrogen fuel – HEXAFLY-INT, which allegedly contained a guest house.

Golubkin claims that the results of research on the project were initially open to all partners involved in the development. Therefore, he does not agree with the accusation that he transferred some secret data abroad, and believes that his actions did not constitute a crime.

• Physicist Valery Golubkin is a professor at the Moscow Polytechnic Institute, a leading researcher at the Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, a specialist in the field of high-speed aerodynamics, the author of more than 130 scientific works and a laureate of several state prizes and awards. He was arrested in April 2021. According to the investigation, the scientist, on the instructions of his boss, gave his European colleagues reports on the work done. Golubkin’s boss, Anatoly Gubanov, was also arrested on charges of treason.
• Since the beginning of 2023, at least 21 criminal cases have been opened in Russia under the article of treason. This is five times more than in the same period last year. For the whole of 2022, 22 criminal cases of state treason were initiated.