Moscow, Russia - A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced a US man to 15 years in a penal colony for "espionage," according to Russian news agencies.

Russia has detained and sentenced a growing number of US citizens and dual-nationals in recent years, some of whom have been freed in prisoner exchanges.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted of espionage in July and released in August.

Moscow City Court sentenced a man named Gene Spector to "15 years to be served in a strict-regime penal colony," taking into account a sentence the defendant had already received for bribery, RIA Novosti state news agency reported.

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It published a photograph of Spector in the defendant's cage, wearing glasses and a dark jacket. No details of the accusation against him have been released.

The trial, except for the sentencing, took place behind closed doors due to the secret nature of the case, news agencies reported.

Spector was born in 1972 in Leningrad and his Russian name is Yevgeny Mironovich, the agency reported. He later moved to the US and obtained citizenship, before becoming the general director of Russia's Medpolimerprom company group.

The American, who lives in the city of Saint Petersburg and is married with children, was detained in 2020 and the following year sentenced to four years in prison for acting as an intermediary in bribery, after pleading guilty.

His sentence was later reduced by six months after a retrial. The case concerned luxury holidays provided to an assistant to former deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich.