A Brussels court sentenced Belgian-Russian national Victor Labin on Thursday to five years in prison for illegally exporting dual-use goods and chemicals to Russia.
Judges found that Labin had played a central role in shipping more than 400 tonnes of goods to Russia, including sensors used to detect and control explosions and chemicals such as yttrium oxide — a raw material used in advanced technologies.
While the court ruled that the majority of products — namely the transport of aluminum oxide — are not punishable under law, it described the offense as a “political crime.”
His lawyer, Stanislas Eskénazi of Perspicere, told POLITICO that the exported chemical was not itself illegal and argued that the court had imposed an unusually harsh sentence because Labin was originally from Russia.
According to the ruling, Labin and a Brussels-based entrepreneur falsified customs documents and routed shipments through companies in countries including Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to conceal their final destination in Russia.
His son, Ruslan Labin, who prosecutors said acted as an intermediary for imports into Moscow, was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. The court also ordered his immediate arrest.
Labin has already spent a year in custody in Haren prison; Eskénazi said his client could be eligible for parole within months because of time already served.