MOSCOW. Dec 1 (Interfax) - A court in Moscow has remanded a Russian citizen accused of high treason into custody.
"On October 22, 2015, the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow remanded Andrei Vitalyevich Belyayev, who is suspected of committing a crime under Article 275 of the Russian Penal Code (high treason) into custody for two months, until December 21, 2015, as a restraining measure," court spokesperson Yulia Skotnikova told Interfax.
The suspect may face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Belyayev has become the 20th high treason suspect announced by the media in 2015.
Other high treason suspects named earlier this year include Smolensk region resident Svetlana Davydova (her case was closed), Sochi airport air traffic controller Pyotr Parapulov, citizen of Russia and Lithuania Jevgenijus (Yevgeny) Mataitis, former employee of the Moscow Patriarchate Yevgeny Petrin, former Armed Forces serviceman Vladislav Nikolsky, natives of southern Russia known only by their last names Nakhatakyan and Kesyan, and Bauman Moscow State Technical University teacher Vladimir Lapygin.
Russian courts have handed down guilty verdicts to radio engineer Gennady Kravtsov (nine-year prison sentence), former policeman Roman Ushakov (15 years in prison), physicist Valery Selyanin (15 years in prison), scientist Maxim Lyudomirsky (nine years in prison), former Russian Interior Ministry employee Yevgeny Chistov (13 years in prison), and Viktor Shura (12 years in prison). In addition to that, lengthy prison sentences were also given to five Navy sailors - Dmitry Ivanov, Zakhary Agapishvili, Sergei Danilchenko, Levan Charkviani and Konstantin Yashin.
However, according to the statistics provided by the Judicial Department of Russia's Supreme Court, only three verdicts handed down in high treason cases came into legal force in the first half of 2015.