France – Le Monde, Nov. 26, 2025
Laurent Vinatier has been jailed since June 2024 and was sentenced in October 2024 to three years in prison for failing to register as a ‘foreign agent.’ But at the end of August it emerged he was the target of a new case involving alleged espionage.
A French researcher jailed in Russia for the last one-and-a-half years is set to go on trial on espionage charges in late February after the investigation into the case was extended, his France-based lawyer said on Wednesday, November 26.
The family of Laurent Vinatier, a researcher with a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, have rejected the accusations against him, saying he is a victim of escalating tensions between Moscow and Paris against the backdrop of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
A new hearing in his case took place last Friday behind closed doors, lawyer Frédéric Bélot told Agence France-Presse (AFP). The espionage investigation against Vinatier has been “extended, with the conclusions due at the end of January and probably a trial on February 28,” he added.
Vinatier, 49, has been jailed since June 2024 and was sentenced in October 2024 to three years in prison for failing to register as a “foreign agent,” a label used by Russian authorities against critics. But at the end of August it emerged he was the target of a new case into alleged espionage, charges which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
