Igor Reshetin, general director of ZAO TsNIIMASH Export and member of the Russian Academy of Cosmology (right)
Photo: Grigory Tambulov
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Pleading Begins in Scientists' Trial
The Lefortovo Court in Moscow began hearing pleading in the case of Igor Reshetin, general director of ZAO TsNIIMASH Export and member of the Russian Academy of Cosmology, and three of his colleagues, all of whom are accused of illegally transferring double-purpose rocket technology to China. The prosecutor is demanding sentences ranging from 6 to 12 years for the defendants.
Reshetin's codefendants are TsNIIMASH Export deputy general director Alexander Rozhkin, the company's chief economist Sergey Vizir and deputy chairman of the export commission of federal state unitary enterprise TsNIIMASH (Central Research Institute for Machine Building, cofounder of TsNIIMASH Export) Mikhail Ivanov. They are accused of violating article 189, part 3, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal Export or Transfer of Technology or Scientific-Technical Information in an Organized Group”), article 188, part 4, (“Smuggling Committed by a Group of Persons”) and article 160, part 3, (“Misappropriation Committed by an Organized Group”). The case centers around a 1996 contract made with the All-China Precision Engineering Import-Export Co. under which the Russian company was to provide 13 reports with calculations of the aerodynamics of spacecraft.
The prosecutor claims that the reports contained information about double-purpose technology that could not be exported without permission of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. Besides the illegal export and smuggling charges resulting from the absence of that permission, the prosecutor is accusing the defendants of creating fictitious coworkers to embezzle 100 million rubles from the company.
The defense argues that the dual purpose of the information provided the Chinese has not been confirmed by independent experts examining it and that the transfer of the information itself is unproven, since the accusations are based on drafts of the reports. Furthermore, TsNIIMASH does not consider itself the victim of embezzlement.
Sentencing will take place on December 3. Resehtin face 12 years' imprisonment, Vizir 11 years, Ivanov 8 years and Rozhkin 6 years.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 27, 2007
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