MOSCOW, October 5 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – The Supreme Court of Russia has upheld a 12-year prison sentence passed on Yevgeny Petrin, former employee of Russian Orthodox Church who claimed to be working as an operative of the Federal Security Service (FSB), for treason, RAPSI learnt in the court.

Petrin was convicted in June. He appealed the sentence immediately after it had been delivered, according to his lawyer Ivan Pavlov.

Prosecution demanded a 19-year imprisonment for Petrin, while defense asked the court to acquit him. The case was classified and heard behind closed doors.

As reported earlier, Petrin contacted with unnamed agents of US intelligence services and passed them secret information about the FSB. A criminal case against him was reportedly opened in April 2014. He was arrested soon afterwards and placed in pre-trial detention center.