Cybersecurity Executive, Ilya Sachkov, Sentenced To Terror In Russia

JAKARTA - A Russian court on Wednesday July 26 sentenced a top cybersecurity executive to charges of treason. The court also sentenced him to 14 years in prison in a case that state news agency TASS said was based on allegations that he had provided classified information to foreign spies.

Ilya Sachkov, who denies making a mistake and calmly listens to the rulings inside the greenhouse court, is one of the founders of Group-IB, at one time one of Russia's most prominent cybersecurity companies, which this year announced its ties to its home market.

Sachkov, who is 37 years old and no longer linked to Group-IB but still owns shares in the former Russian company's business, was arrested in September 2021 by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on charges of treason in a secret case.

Group-IB has today learned of the sentence issued to its co-founder Ilya Sachkov following the conclusion of his rushed, closed-door trial in Moscow.Ilya pleaded not guilty. Since day one, we have had full confidence in Ilya’s innocence. The entire Group-IB team is dismayed and… pic.twitter.com/QKg9SW0rMf

— Group-IB Global (@GroupIB) July 26, 2023

Group-IB has today learned of the sentence issued to its co-founder Ilya Sachkov following the conjunction of his torn, closed-door trial in Moscow.Ilya applied not guilty. Since day one, we have had full confidence in Ilya's innocence. The entire Group-IB team is dismayed and... pic.twitter.com/QKg9SW0rMf

Sachkov's lawyers told reporters he hoped his client would be released because he believed there was sufficient evidence of his hygiene.

"We will not give up. We believe... in his innocence, and we will appeal further and continue to work," the lawyer, Sergei Afanasiev, said.

A former co-worker who bought the Russian Group-IB business and changed his name to the FACCT said in a statement that his legal team would also ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene.

Sachkov has been sentenced to prison in a high-level correctional colony, the statement said.

"COMPANY employees have accepted what has happened calmly, they continue to support Ilya and hope she will be released and rehabilitated," the statement read. "This is a difficult moment for all of us and a black day for Russia's cybersecurity market."

Some of his supporters, who wore black t-shirts with their portraits, were in court to hear the verdict.

At the time of his arrest, Group-IB focused on investigating high-tech crime and online fraud in Russia and other countries.

Sachkov had caused an uproar among officials a year before his arrest, when he was present at an event attended by Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin.

In a speech at the event broadcast on state television, Sachkov accused authorities of allowing a leading Russian criminal hacker to move without a hitch, criticizing the appointment of someone who he said was a former spy to an agency overseeing the export of advanced technology, and accusing cybersecurity envoy Putin of making a poisoning statement.

Prior to his detention, Sachkov was considered one of Russia's most promising entrepreneurs, and he met Putin at the Kremlin in 2019 after winning an award for young entrepreneurs.

Sachkov is one of a number of people, including scientists, soldiers, officials, and former journalists, who have faced charges of treason in Russia in recent years.