| The Moscow City Court on Friday found guilty former Russian Foreign Ministry employee Platon Obukhov, whom the FSB accused of spying for the British intelligence service MI6. At the same time, the court declared Obukhov insane and sent him for compulsory treatment to a psychiatric clinic. According to the prosecution, Obukhov, the son of the Russian ambassador to Denmark, was recruited by British intelligence services in mid-1995 during a business trip to Switzerland. After returning to Moscow, counterintelligence officers believe, for almost a year he passed on information contained in secret Foreign Ministry documents that passed through his hands to the British. In total, according to the investigation, Obukhov Jr. conducted at least 15 radio communication sessions with English residents using special equipment. He recorded it on a special device, and then, driving on a trolleybus or bus past the required “points,” he turned on the radio transmitter, which in just a few seconds dumped the information on the residents’ receiving device. According to the FSB, the British also paid Obukhov using a “contactless” method, transferring money to his accounts in foreign banks. In total, the diplomat managed to receive about 300 thousand dollars for espionage work, investigators believe. Platon Obukhov was arrested in April 1996, and the first trial began in 1997. Experts considered that the defendant had schizophrenia and was not aware of his actions, and the court was forced to send him for compulsory treatment. Three years later, psychiatrists declared that their patient had been cured, and in 2000 the court sentenced him to 11 years in prison. However, at the insistence of lawyers, the Supreme Court sent Obukhov’s case for a new trial, during which it was established that the court had previously biasedly examined all the data about the defendant’s mental state. In October 2001, a new examination was ordered, based on the results of which the Moscow City Court apparently made a final decision. It was decided that at the time the crime was committed, the diplomat was of “limited sanity” and could be convicted. But during the time that Obukhov was in custody, the disease progressed, and now he is considered insane. It is assumed that after treatment, Platon Obukhov may be sent to a colony to serve his sentence. Gennady KNYAZEV |
