Convicted scientist to spend three months in solitary confinement - lawyer

MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - Igor Sutyagin, a Russian scientist who is serving a 15-year sentence for espionage, will spend three months in solitary confinement.

"He was sent into solitary confinement for three months supposedly because a phone was found on him. I question this and treat [the punishment] as an attempt to put pressure on Sutyagin," Anna Stavitskaya, a lawyer for the scientist, told Interfax.

Sutyagin is serving his sentence in the Arkhangelsk maximum-security penal colony.

"Sutyagin is a very prudent person and he would not have run such a risk, given that the issue of his pardon is being considered," the lawyer said.

Earlier, human rights activists, scientists and prominent Russian public figures had asked the Russian authorities to grant a pardon to Sutyagin, she said.

"We visited him on February 1 and discussed the issue of sending a plea for a pardon through the penal colony's administration. I link the incident to the fact that pressure is being put on him so that he either confess, or drop his appeal to the European Court," the lawyer said.

Sutyagin was put into solitary confinement on February 4, 2007, the lawyer said.