MOSCOW, June 20 – RAPSI. Russian scientist Igor Reshetin, sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison for espionage, has been released on parole, RIA Novosti reported.

TSNIIMASH-Export CEO Igor Reshetin was arrested in October 2005. According to the investigation, Reshetin and his accomplices illegally gave rocket and space construction technical information to China.

Reshetin’s defense said that the data given to China does not qualify as anything on lists of restricted items for export control, and the results of the research can be used for solely peaceful purposes.

The Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow found Reshetin guilty in December 2008. Another three suspects in the criminal case were sentenced to prison. Their terms ranged from five to eleven years.

Reshetin spent seven years in prison.