A Russian court has sentenced a former manager at Russian flagship airline Aeroflots British office to 13 years in prison for treason, state mediareported Tuesday.Dmitry Fedotkin, an Aeroflot country and station manager in London since 2012,faced a maximum sentence of 20 years when he was arrested in November 2020.
He has maintained his innocence.The Moscow City Court found Fedotkin guilty of high treason and sentenced him to 13 years in a maximum-security penal colony, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.Fedotkin was also fined 300,000 rubles ($5,000).The sentence originally handed down on Aug.
13 was not made public for three months, RIA Novosti reported.The court reportedly rejected his appeal on Nov.
2, meaning the jail sentence went into effect two weeks ago.The trial was held behind closed doors and details of the criminal case were not publicized due to their involving state secrets.Fedotkins wife suspects that his rivals were behind the case against him, RIA Novosti cited a member of Russias state prison watchdog as saying.The former Aeroflot employee joins a list of civil servants, scientists, journalists and other figures who have been charged or imprisoned for treason in recent years.