- Title: RUSSIA: Igor Sutyagin's lawyer says she has no information about his whereabouts
- Date: 10th July 2010
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JULY 9, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE TO FSB (RUSSIAN FEDERAL SECURITY SERVICE) LEFORTOVO PRISON EXTERIOR OF INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE IGOR SUTYAGIN'S LAWYER ANNA STAVITSKAYA ENTERING INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE BUILDING SIGN "INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE" (SOUNDBITE) (Russian ) ANNA STAVITSKAYA, IGOR SUTYAGIN'S LAWYER, SAYING: "I don't have any information concerning his whereabouts. We, as well as other people, base our information exclusively on rumours, what we read on the internet or what we are told by the media, both Russian and foreign." INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian ) ANNA STAVITSKAYA, IGOR SUTYAGIN'S LAWYER, SAYING: "As long as we do not get a call from him, all the information will be based only on the rumours, because state officials do not disclose any information." BUILDING GATES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian ) ANNA STAVITSKAYA, IGOR SUTYAGIN'S LAWYER, SAYING: " I can only make guesses based on the information he has given to his family. He told them that the swap should have taken place yesterday and as of Thursday morning he should be in Vienna.'' INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE
- Embargoed: 25th July 2010 10:40
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- Topics: Legal System
- Reuters ID: LVACJ40MRJUBOBZXW693COF9P0E5
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Russian nuclear expert Igor Sutyagin's lawyer said on Friday (July 9) she has no information about his whereabouts.
"I don't have any information concerning his whereabouts. We, as well as other people, base our information exclusively on rumours, what we read on the internet or what we are told by the media, both Russian and foreign," said lawyer, Anna Stavitskaya.
Sutyagin is believed to be one of four people to be swapped for ten suspected Russian agents in the U.S.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has pardoned four people jailed for passing secrets to the West as part of a Cold War-style spy swap with the United States, local news agencies reported on Friday.
Medvedev signed a decree to pardon Alexander Zaporozhsky, Gennady Vasilenko, Igor Sutyagin and Sergei Skripal, who are all serving prison terms for espionage, his spokeswoman Natalya Timakova was quoted by Russia's state RIA news agency as saying.
Under the spy swap, 10 people who were arrested on suspicion of being Russian agents will be deported from the United States and Moscow will send four jailed spies to the West.
"As long as we do not get a call from him, all the information will be based only on the rumours, because state officials do not disclose any information," said Anna Stavitskaya.
Sutyagin, a Russian nuclear expert, was jailed for passing secrets to the West. He told his family this week that he had been informed by Russian officials that he was to be handed over as part of the spy swap,
"I can only make guesses based on the information he has given to his family. He told them that the swap should have taken place yesterday and as of Thursday morning he should be in Vienna," said Stavitskaya.
A nuclear expert and former research fellow at the Moscow-based Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies, Igor Sutyagin was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2004.
He was charged with passing classified military information to a British firm which prosecutors said was a front for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. He has always said he was innocent.
Anna Stavitskaya said she delivered an official request regarding Sutyagin's whereabouts to the Lefortovo prison authorities on Friday, June 9. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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