Prosecutors have requested an 18-year prison sentence for Ilya Shatskov, the founder of the Russian cyber security company Group IB, who is being tried behind closed doors for “high treason”, his lawyer said today, cited by Russian news agencies.

“The civil suit asked that Satskov be sentenced to 18 years in a penal colony. We insist on his acquittal,” Sergei Afanasiev told the state-run Ria Novosti news agency. As he said, the verdict will be announced on July 26.

Ilya Shatskov, 37, was arrested in September 2021, but very little has been known about the case, as investigations into “high treason” are considered a defense secret.

According to Ria Novosti, citing Ilya Shatskov’s lawyers, the charges are not connected to Group IB, a company founded in 2003 that became one of the best-known Russian companies in the field of preventing cyberattacks, cooperating with many Western companies.

In an open letter published in November 2021, Ilya Shatskov had said that he is “neither a traitor nor a spy”, but a “Russian engineer” who has proved “countless times his loyalty to the motherland”.

In February 2019, Shatskov was awarded a medal by President Vladimir Putin for his “innovative achievements” in the field of detecting and preventing cyber threats, according to the Kremlin’s website.

Cases of high treason have been multiplying in recent years in Russia, alongside the worsening of tensions with the West, mainly targeting scientists and academics.