Defense: proof of guilt of MAI associate professor Alexey Vorobyov in the treason case was “dust from China” on the memory card of his phone

The FSB found dust particles from the “Chinese region” on the memory card of the phone of the former associate professor of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI, the university asked to add the word “former” to the position - Ed. ) Alexei Vorobyov, and on the basis of this, the investigation charged him with treason (Art. 275 of the Criminal Code), reports with reference to the scientist's lawyer Valery Vetoshkina. Open Media

In April, the court sentenced Vorobyov to 20 years of strict regime in the case of treason, as well as preparation for the illegal export of equipment, information or services that can be used to create weapons (part 1 of article 30 - part 3 of article 189 of the Criminal Code) , and attempted smuggling of weapons (part 3 - article 30 - part 3 of article 226.1 of the Criminal Code).

From the unclassified part of the verdict, it follows that the polymorphological examination of the Institute of Criminalistics of the Center for Special Equipment of the FSB

found dust particles from China on the memory card of Vorobyov's phone, where a photo of one of his essays was stored.

Based on this, the investigation concluded that in November 2018, the scientist was in China and decided to hand over information constituting a state secret to an employee of the Harbin Polytechnic University, and the publication would be sent. The defense of the former associate professor of the MAI emphasizes that the investigation did not establish either the fact of the transfer of information, or the beneficiary, or the time of transfer. The case concerns scientific papers on the RD-0146 engine, which are in the public domain.

A criminal case against Vorobyov was opened on February 14, 2019, a day later he was detained, and on February 16, the Meshchansky Court, at the request of the FSB, arrested him.

One of the court decisions stated that he had "extensive, stable ties outside the territory of the Russian Federation."

Vorobyov was accused of treason after the dissertation on digital modeling of the operation of a liquid-propellant rocket engine was seized during a search of the author's abstract of a dissertation under the heading "secret". It was this abstract that was on the memory card with particles of "Chinese dust". In violation of the rules for handling state secrets, the scientist filmed the document in order to work with it at home, but this cannot be qualified as a crime, the defense believes.

According to the lawyer, the scientist worked part-time by selecting and mailing various spare parts. The case against Vorobyov appeared after a forum user asked him to send the remote control from the Su military aircraft to China. The Federal Service for Technical and Export Control does not consider the remote control to be a military product. The defense believes that Vorobyov could have become a victim of a provocation by the FSB.

The appeal in the scientist's case will be held on August 19.