Russian court jails top cybersecurity executive for 14 years in treason case

In this photo released by the Moscow City Court Press Service, Ilya Sachkov former founder and CEO of the Group-IB, one of the leading cybersecurity companies in Russia stands in a glass cage in a courtroom of the Moscow City Court, in Moscow, Russia, July 26, 2023. (Moscow City Court Press Service via AP)

MOSCOW — A Russian court on Wednesday convicted Ilya Sachkov, a top cybersecurity executive, of treason and jailed him for 14 years in a case which state news agency TASS said centred on allegations he had passed classified information to foreign spies.

Sachkov, who denied wrongdoing and listened to the verdict in a glass courtroom cage, helped found Group-IB, once one of Russia's most prominent cybersecurity firms which this year announced it had cut ties with its original market.

Sachkov, 37, who is no longer associated with Group-IB but owns a share in its former Russian business, was arrested in September 2021 by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on treason charges in a case that was classified.

Former colleagues who bought Group-IB's Russian business and renamed it F.A.C.C.T said in a statement that his legal team would appeal against his conviction and ask President Vladimir Putin to intervene.

Sachkov had been ordered to serve out his sentence in a high-security penal colony, they said.

"Employees have taken what has happened calmly, they continue to support Ilya and hope he will be released and rehabilitated," the statement said.

"This is a hard moment for all of us and a black day for the (Russian) cybersecurity market."

Some of his supporters, wearing black T-shirts with his portrait on, were in the courtroom to hear the verdict.

At the time of his arrest, Group-IB focused on investigating high-tech crimes and online fraud in Russia and elsewhere.

Sachkov had ruffled official feathers a year before his arrest at an event attended by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

In a speech at the event shown on state TV, Sachkov accused the authorities of allowing a prominent Russian criminal hacker to go about his business unimpeded, criticized the appointment of someone he said was a former spy to a body overseeing the export of advanced technologies, and accused Putin's cybersecurity envoy of making toxic statements.

Lauded as one of Russia's most promising businessmen before his detention, Sachkov had met Putin in the Kremlin in 2019 after winning a prize for young entrepreneurs.

Sachkov is the latest in a long line of people, including scientists, soldiers, officials and a former journalist, to face treason charges in recent years.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by William Maclean)