North Ossetian Court Sentences Georgian On Spy Charges

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia -- The Supreme Court in the Russian republic of North Ossetia has sentenced a man for being a Georgian spy, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

The court found Aleksandr Khachirov guilty of espionage and sentenced him to seven years in jail.

Prosecutors charged Khachirov with disclosing information about the location of Russian military forces within North Ossetia and the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.

The trial was held behind closed doors.

Khachirov is the second man convicted in Russia in recent months of being a Georgian spy.

South Ossetia and Georgia's other breakaway republic of Abkhazia proclaimed their independence in August of last year after Russian troops entered their territories and forced the Georgian army to leave.