A Russian court has sentenced Ilya Sachkov, the founder of security research house Group-IB, to 14 years in a maximum-security prison after finding the executive guilty of high treason.
Sachkov, who has been in detention since his arrest in September 2021, was also fined 500,000 rubles (about $5,550). His trial was held behind closed doors because it apparently involved the discussion classified materials.
"Ilya spent almost two years in pre-trial detention, awaiting a trial that only started on July 6, 2023," Group-IB said in a statement on Sachkov's sentencing. He co-founded the network security firm in 2003.
"During his detainment, he was denied the right to communicate — no calls, no letters — with the outside world for the first few months, he was deprived of any visits from family and friends," the statement continued.
Group-IB maintains "full confidence in Ilya's innocence," and described the Moscow court proceedings as an "unreasonably rushed trial," even by Russian standards.
"Ultimately, Ilya has been denied a chance for an impartial trial," the statement added. "All the materials of the case are kept classified, and all hearings were held in complete secrecy with no public scrutiny. As a result, we might never know the pretext for his conviction."
While the details of the charges against Sachkov remain top secret, he reportedly was accused of handing over information to the FBI about the Kremlin-backed cyber-espionage team APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, ..
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