Georgian, two Russians sentenced 11-15 years for spying for Georgia
25/03/201013:56
ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 25 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian military court in the North Caucasus sentenced on Thursday a Georgian national and two Russians between 11-15 years in jail on charges of treason and espionage.
The district military court ruled that Zaza Kherkeladze, a Georgian national, who had illegally come to North Ossetia in 2007 and acquired a Russian passport, set up a spy network for collecting secret information for the Georgian Special Forces on Russian servicemen in the North Caucasus and top authorities in North Ossetia.
According to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Kherkeladze was abetted by Russian Col. Khvichi Imerlishvili, who gathered military information and picked up potential recruits among Russian servicemen.
The other Russian, Lt.Col. Bogdanov, collected information on FSB agents, Defense Ministry officials and military objects in southern Russia. He handed the information over to Georgia for financial rewards.
According to an official report, Bogdanov received a total of $6,000.
Imerlishvili and Bogdanov's activities, which were halted by Russia in 2008-2009, were part of a larger campaign by Georgia's spy agencies to provide favorable conditions for the military operation in South Ossetia.
All three pleaded guilty.
Bogdanov, Imerlishvili and Kherkeladze were sentenced to 15, 13 and 11 years respectively at a maximum security penal colony on charges of treason and espionage.
Bogdanov and Imerlishvili were stripped of their military ranks and received "milder" sentences due to their confessions, small children and positive character references.
Long-standing tensions between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia turned violent when the two fought a five-day war in early August 2008 over Georgia's two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia recognized the two republics' independence shortly after ceasefire.
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