Ukrainian court sentences citizen of Iran to 11 years in prison for espionage
On June 25, the Ordzhonikidzevskyi District Court of Kharkiv sentenced an Iranian citizen to 11 years of imprisonment for espionage (in accordance with Part 1 of Article 114 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The Kharkiv Prosecutor’s Office announced through its press service that a 30-year-old Iranian, a graduate student of one of Kharkiv’s universities, met with an employee of the research institution involved in military research and subsequently tried to obtain classified information.
The research employee reported the Iranian grad student to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The man was detained during an attempt to acquire research papers.
The Court’s verdict has not yet entered into force, as the convicted defendant has a window of time to repeal the ruling.
In January 2018, law enforcement officials detained at Boryspil Airport a 55-year-old employee of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s research institute who attempted to smuggle information about the Hetman Sahaydachnyi frigate to Iran. He got off with a minor fine.