MOSCOW: A court in Moscow on Friday ordered a French citizen accused of collecting information on military issues in Russia be held in jail pending investigation and trial.
Laurent Vinatier was arrested in the Russian capital on Thursday as tensions have flared between Moscow and Paris following French President Emmanuel Macron’s statements about the possibility of deploying the country’s troops in Ukraine.
The authorities accused Vinatier of failing to register as a “foreign agent” while collecting information about Russia’s “military and military-technical activities,” which could be used to the detriment of the country’s security.
They did not provide details of the accusations beyond alleging that Vinatier repeatedly traveled to Russia to collect this information. Under Russian law, it is a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
Vinatier appeared in court on Friday. Russia’s state news agency Tass cited his lawyer as saying in the courtroom that Vinatier admitted his guilt and maintained that he simply didn’t know about the requirement. The report also said Vinatier apologized to the court.
The judge ordered the man to be remanded in pre-trial detention until Aug. 5.
Vinatier is an adviser with the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization.
Later Friday, the Geneva-based NGO said it was doing “everything possible to assist our colleague Laurent,” such as by helping to secure legal representation for him and reach out to Russian authorities.
“As the case proceeds, we continue to seek information about the circumstances leading up to his arrest and the charges made against him,” it said.
The charges against Vinatier stem from a recently adopted law that requires anyone who collects information on military issues to register with authorities as a foreign agent.
Human rights activists have criticized the law and other legislation adopted lately as part of a multi-pronged Kremlin crackdown on independent media and political activists intended to stifle criticism of its actions in Ukraine.
Arrests on charges of spying and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia since it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Recent high-profile arrests include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested on espionage charges in March 2023, and US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was taken into custody in October 2023 on the same charges as Vinatier.
Russia jails French citizen detained on charges of collecting military data
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Russia jails French citizen detained on charges of collecting military data
Treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended VP is further eroding peace deal, UN experts say
- The experts said forces from both sides are continuing to confront each other across much of the country
- “Years of neglect have fragmented government and opposition forces alike,” the experts said
UNITED NATIONS: The treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended vice president is further eroding a 2018 peace agreement he signed with President Salva Kiir, UN experts warned in a new report.
As Riek Machar’s trial is taking place in the capital, Juba, the experts said forces from both sides are continuing to confront each other across much of the country and there is a threat of renewed major conflict.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the UN Security Council last month that the crisis in South Sudan is escalating, “a breaking point” has become visible, and time is running “dangerously short” to bring the peace process back on track.
There were high hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict, but the country slid into a civil war in December 2013 largely based on ethnic divisions, when forces loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battled those loyal to Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
More than 400,000 people were killed in the war, which ended with the 2018 peace agreement that brought Kiir and Machar together in a government of national unity. But implementation has been slow, and a long-delayed presidential election is now scheduled for December 2026.
The panel of UN experts stressed in a report this week that the political and security landscape in South Sudan looks very different today than it did in 2018 and that “the conflict that now threatens looks much different to those that came before.”
“Years of neglect have fragmented government and opposition forces alike,” the experts said, “resulting in a patchwork of uniformed soldiers, defectors and armed community defense groups that are increasingly preoccupied by local struggles and often unenthused by the prospect of a national confrontation. ”
With limited supplies and low morale, South Sudan’s military has relied increasingly on aerial bombings that are “relatively indiscriminate” to disrupt the opposition, the experts said.
In a major escalation of tensions in March, a Nuer militia seized an army garrison. Kiir’s government responded, charging Machar and seven other opposition figures with treason, murder, terrorism and other crimes.
The UN experts said Kiir and his allies insist that, despite having dismissed Machar, implementation of the peace agreement is unaffected, pointing to a faction of the opposition led by Stephen Par Kuol that is still engaged in the peace process.
Those who refused to join Kuol and sided with Machar’s former deputy, Natheniel Oyet, “have largely been removed from their positions, forcing many to flee the country,” the experts said in the report.
The African Union, regional countries and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, have all called for Machar’s release and stressed their strong support for implementation of the 2018 agreement, the panel said.
According to the latest international assessment, 7.7 million people — 57 percent of the population — face “crisis” levels of food insecurity, with pockets of famine in some communities most affected by renewed fighting, the panel said.
