A Russian couple has been jailed after being convicted of “treason” and serving combined sentences of more than 25 years. In 2015, a photo of Denishenko, head of a local branch of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), attending the couple’s wedding was uploaded to social media, which led to Denishenko’s identity being revealed, the report said.
The couple, named Antonina Zimina and Konstantin Antonets, were convicted in a court in Kaliningrad, Russia, of providing secret information to Latvian spies, Russia Today TV (RT) reported on 19.
The wife, Zimina, faces 13 years in prison, while her husband was sentenced to serve 12 and a half years. Both were also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 rubles ($1,300) each. Both defendants filed appeals in January and continue to insist they are innocent.
Zimina’s father told the media on 18 local Time that “the pardon request has been submitted to the Russian president. Zimina still says she is not guilty.”
Antonets allegedly had access to sensitive material through his professional connections with the local economic sector. Zimina was previously the director of the Baltic Center for Cultural Dialogue, which means she has an extensive network of contacts with neighboring countries, including NATO member Latvia.
While many details of the case remain under wraps, sources say they are accused of releasing information about their old friend Maksim Denishenko. Denishenko is said to be the head of a local branch of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). Reports say a photo of Denishenko attending the couple’s wedding in 2015 was uploaded to social media, which led to Denishenko’s identity being revealed.
However, the father of the bride claimed in an interview that Denishenko got drunk at the wedding and then told the other guests that he was an agent of the Russian Federal Security Service. The wedding was allegedly attended by the couple’s Latvian friends.
According to Wikipedia’s explanation of the word “treason,” “treason, in law, means a person’s disloyalty to the state (not state power) to which he or she belongs; a person who violates his or her declaration of allegiance or collaborates with enemies of his or her state (not state power) is called a traitor. “
The 1983 edition of Oran’s Dictionary of the Law defines treason as “a citizen who assists a foreign government in overthrowing or committing serious violations against the country (not a state power) to which he belongs, or who encourages a foreign country to declare war against the country to which he belongs.”
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