The Supreme Court of Bashkortostan convicted physicist Oskar Kaibyshev of exporting dual-use technology to South Korea on Tuesday and handed him a six-year suspended sentence.
Kaibyshev, the suspended director of the Institute for Metal Superplasticity Problems, is the latest in a long string of scientists prosecuted for selling state secrets or dual-use technologies to foreign buyers.
Kaibyshev scoffed at the decision. Speaking by telephone from Ufa, he said the Federal Security Service had placed "unprecedented pressure on the court" to convict him.
"Apparently the court decided they had enough to give me a suspended sentence," Kaibyshev said.
The court found Kaibyshev guilty of exporting dual-use technology to the South Korean company ASA, misappropriation of institute funds and exceeding his authority as director, court spokesman Makhmut Khuzhin said by telephone from Ufa on Tuesday.
The court also barred Kaibyshev from serving as a director in scientific institutes for three years and ordered him to pay 3.52 million rubles ($132,000) to his former institute in Ufa, Khuzhin said.
Kaibyshev's lawyer, Alexei Zelikman, said Tuesday that he would appeal the verdict to the federal Supreme Court within 10 days, but that he was somewhat surprised by the decision.
"I expected an actual sentence," Zelikman said, RIA-Novosti reported. "That they would take him into custody right there in the courtroom. My worst fears didn't come true."
Kaibyshev said he had no idea how he would pay the fine if his appeal fell through.
Prosecutors called for a six-year sentence in the case, though Kaibyshev could have faced up to 10 years in prison.
Larisa Kuchina, spokeswoman for the Bashkortostan Prosecutor's Office, said by telephone Tuesday that she could not comment on whether prosecutors would appeal until her office had received an official copy of the verdict.
Igor Kovalenko, spokesman for the FSB's Bashkortostan branch, refused to comment on Kaibyshev's claim that the FSB had pressured the court to convict the scientist.
Khuzhin, the court spokesman, said the FSB had placed "no pressure whatsoever" on the court.
The Public Committee for the Protection of Scientists said last month that it was incapable of defending an increasing number of scientists against charges of espionage and illegal technology exports, which the committee regards as unfounded.
About a dozen scientists have been jailed on similar charges in recent years.
Kaibyshev called the court-ordered fine "revenge" for the conviction of an FSB officer for stealing a safe containing more than 1.5 million rubles from Kaibyshev's institute during the investigation.
The agent, Alexander Arefyev, was given a five-year suspended sentenced on Sept. 18, 2003, and fired by the FSB, Regnum.ru reported. The stolen money was returned to the institute, Regnum.ru said.
Kaibyshev said Tuesday that during the controversy over the theft, FSB officers promised "to bury him" if he did not drop the matter.
In May, FSB deputy director Yury Gorbunov promised not to shield security officers who acted illegally while investigating espionage cases but insisted that officers would continue to seek the prosecution of scientists suspected of transmitting classified information.
Gorbunov also promised that his agency would release more information about such cases in the future, although the FSB has made no comment about the cases against Kaibyshev and Novosibirsk chemist Oleg Korobeinichev.
The FSB has accused Korobeinichev of divulging state secrets. The chemist has ties to U.S. and European research institutions.
Ernest Chyorny, a member of the Public Committee for the Protection of Scientists, called Tuesday's verdict "completely baseless" and concurred with Kaibyshev that the suspended sentence was a sign that prosecutors had no hard evidence.
"It's the same thing they did with Babkin," Chyorny said, referring to Moscow scholar Anatoly Babkin, who was convicted of espionage in 2003. "There's no proof, so they just decided to give him a little present in the form of a suspended sentence."
Babkin, a professor at Moscow's Bauman Technical University, was found guilty of spying for the United States in February 2003. He was accused of providing classified information about the high-speed Shkval torpedo to U.S. businessman and former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Edmund Pope, but was freed after being given an eight-year suspended sentence.
Pope was convicted of spying and sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2000, but was pardoned and released shortly afterward following protests from the U.S. government.
Both Babkin and Pope maintained their innocence.
The FSB began investigating Kaibyshev in March 2003 after it seized documents and equipment from a South Korean business delegation at the Ufa airport.
The businessmen, employees of ASA, had visited Kaibyshev's institute. ASA has denied shopping for defense technology.
Kaibyshev's institute specializes in methods for shaping metals without compromising their strength.
The most serious charge against Kaibyshev was the export of dual-use technologies, which can be techniques, equipment or software suitable for both civilian and military purposes.
The FSB had classified Kaibyshev's indictment, but his son, Rustam Kaibyshev, told reporters in Moscow that the FSB said the scientist had illegally exported a technique for making weapons of mass destruction.
Kaibyshev maintains the technology was in the public domain and had no military application.
Chyorny lamented that as a result of the investigation and trial, Kaibyshev's institute had fallen on hard times.
"In 2003, it was a self-sufficient scientific research institute," Chyorny said. "It was exactly the type of thing [President Vladimir] Putin promotes. Now, it's completely destroyed."
Kaibyshev, the suspended director of the Institute for Metal Superplasticity Problems, is the latest in a long string of scientists prosecuted for selling state secrets or dual-use technologies to foreign buyers.
Kaibyshev scoffed at the decision. Speaking by telephone from Ufa, he said the Federal Security Service had placed "unprecedented pressure on the court" to convict him.
"Apparently the court decided they had enough to give me a suspended sentence," Kaibyshev said.
The court found Kaibyshev guilty of exporting dual-use technology to the South Korean company ASA, misappropriation of institute funds and exceeding his authority as director, court spokesman Makhmut Khuzhin said by telephone from Ufa on Tuesday.
The court also barred Kaibyshev from serving as a director in scientific institutes for three years and ordered him to pay 3.52 million rubles ($132,000) to his former institute in Ufa, Khuzhin said.
Kaibyshev's lawyer, Alexei Zelikman, said Tuesday that he would appeal the verdict to the federal Supreme Court within 10 days, but that he was somewhat surprised by the decision.
"I expected an actual sentence," Zelikman said, RIA-Novosti reported. "That they would take him into custody right there in the courtroom. My worst fears didn't come true."
Kaibyshev said he had no idea how he would pay the fine if his appeal fell through.
Prosecutors called for a six-year sentence in the case, though Kaibyshev could have faced up to 10 years in prison.
Larisa Kuchina, spokeswoman for the Bashkortostan Prosecutor's Office, said by telephone Tuesday that she could not comment on whether prosecutors would appeal until her office had received an official copy of the verdict.
Igor Kovalenko, spokesman for the FSB's Bashkortostan branch, refused to comment on Kaibyshev's claim that the FSB had pressured the court to convict the scientist.
Khuzhin, the court spokesman, said the FSB had placed "no pressure whatsoever" on the court.
The Public Committee for the Protection of Scientists said last month that it was incapable of defending an increasing number of scientists against charges of espionage and illegal technology exports, which the committee regards as unfounded.
About a dozen scientists have been jailed on similar charges in recent years.
Kaibyshev called the court-ordered fine "revenge" for the conviction of an FSB officer for stealing a safe containing more than 1.5 million rubles from Kaibyshev's institute during the investigation.
The agent, Alexander Arefyev, was given a five-year suspended sentenced on Sept. 18, 2003, and fired by the FSB, Regnum.ru reported. The stolen money was returned to the institute, Regnum.ru said.
Kaibyshev said Tuesday that during the controversy over the theft, FSB officers promised "to bury him" if he did not drop the matter.
In May, FSB deputy director Yury Gorbunov promised not to shield security officers who acted illegally while investigating espionage cases but insisted that officers would continue to seek the prosecution of scientists suspected of transmitting classified information.
Gorbunov also promised that his agency would release more information about such cases in the future, although the FSB has made no comment about the cases against Kaibyshev and Novosibirsk chemist Oleg Korobeinichev.
The FSB has accused Korobeinichev of divulging state secrets. The chemist has ties to U.S. and European research institutions.
Ernest Chyorny, a member of the Public Committee for the Protection of Scientists, called Tuesday's verdict "completely baseless" and concurred with Kaibyshev that the suspended sentence was a sign that prosecutors had no hard evidence.
"It's the same thing they did with Babkin," Chyorny said, referring to Moscow scholar Anatoly Babkin, who was convicted of espionage in 2003. "There's no proof, so they just decided to give him a little present in the form of a suspended sentence."
Babkin, a professor at Moscow's Bauman Technical University, was found guilty of spying for the United States in February 2003. He was accused of providing classified information about the high-speed Shkval torpedo to U.S. businessman and former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Edmund Pope, but was freed after being given an eight-year suspended sentence.
Pope was convicted of spying and sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2000, but was pardoned and released shortly afterward following protests from the U.S. government.
Both Babkin and Pope maintained their innocence.
The FSB began investigating Kaibyshev in March 2003 after it seized documents and equipment from a South Korean business delegation at the Ufa airport.
The businessmen, employees of ASA, had visited Kaibyshev's institute. ASA has denied shopping for defense technology.
Kaibyshev's institute specializes in methods for shaping metals without compromising their strength.
The most serious charge against Kaibyshev was the export of dual-use technologies, which can be techniques, equipment or software suitable for both civilian and military purposes.
The FSB had classified Kaibyshev's indictment, but his son, Rustam Kaibyshev, told reporters in Moscow that the FSB said the scientist had illegally exported a technique for making weapons of mass destruction.
Kaibyshev maintains the technology was in the public domain and had no military application.
Chyorny lamented that as a result of the investigation and trial, Kaibyshev's institute had fallen on hard times.
"In 2003, it was a self-sufficient scientific research institute," Chyorny said. "It was exactly the type of thing [President Vladimir] Putin promotes. Now, it's completely destroyed."