Russian Physicist Acquitted of Spying

A jury acquitted a Russian physicist of espionage charges Monday in a rare defeat for Russia’s top security agency, the main successor to the KGB.

The trial of Valentin Danilov, a professor at Krasnoyarsk Technical University, is among a series of high-profile spy cases against Russian researchers. The cases have alarmed the scientific community and raised fears of a resurgence of Soviet-era KGB tactics.

Danilov was accused by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, of selling classified information on space technology to China and misappropriating university funds. He was tried by a jury, a practice still rare in Russia.

“After a four-hour-long discussion, eight out of the 12 jurors declared him innocent on all counts, after which the judge acquitted him,” Danilov’s lawyer Yelena Yevmenova said by phone from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

Prosecutors said they would appeal to Russia’s Supreme Court, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. While jury verdicts normally cannot be appealed, the ruling can be called off in case of procedural violations during the trial, the agency said.

Danilov was arrested in February 2001 and spent 19 months behind bars before a judge released him pending trial. The physicist insisted that the information he provided was no longer classified and came from open sources, including published scientific journals.

“I think it’s the testimony of witnesses -- colleagues from my university -- that made the jurors see that the materials I dealt with were by no means state secrets,” Danilov said by telephone from Krasnoyarsk.

Human rights advocates say the FSB is deeply suspicious of Russian scientists’ contacts with foreigners. President Vladimir V. Putin is a former KGB lieutenant colonel.