The city's military court has refused to release on bail a St Petersburg environmental expert charged with treason -- despite offers from his former employer to post unlimited surety.
Alexander Nikitin, a former naval captain who had been working for Norwegian environmental group Bellona, is charged with passing secret information about Russian navy nuclear waste disposal procedures on the Kola peninsular in the Northern Murmansk region of Russia bordering on Norway.
In two months the court will determine when the trial will begin, but until then Nikitin remains in Federal Security Service (FSB) custody while investigations continue.
Nikitin's defense council, Yuri Schmidt, thinks the decision was weighted against his client.
He said it took prosecutors just one minute of their allotted hour to convince the court to rule against bail for Nikitin.
Mr Schmidt said after the verdict, "Who benefits from such a decision and who is behind the FSB, I don't know."
"The investigation would have continued fine had he been released on bail or under guarantee."
The prosecutors in the case stated briefly that the FSB believes Nikitin to be a "flight risk" in their request that bail be refused.
Prior to his arrest, Nikitin had received permission to move to the Ukraine, where his mother lives.
It is rare for bail to be granted by Russian courts. Most suspects are kept on remand for long periods.
By Russian law, defendants can be released pending trial on bail set by the court or letter of guarantee from a social organization. Both Bellona and the local civil rights organization Citizen's Watch provided letters of guarantee and proof of bail.
Mr Schmidt was astounded by the court's decision that Nikitin presents a flight risk. Prior to his arrest on February 6, Nikitin cooperated fully with the authorities during the four month FSB inquiry into his relationship with Norwegian environmental group Bellona.
Mr Schmidt added that "the decision did not address at all the fact that gross violations of [Nikitin's] rights were allowed."
He was referring to a March 25, Constitutional Court ruling that it was unlawful of the FSB to demand that Mr Schmidt undergo security clearance to defend Nikitin.
FSB intervention had prevented lawyer and client from meeting for almost two months, although Russian law guarantees the right to legal council within 24 hours of arrest.
"They simply explained that the FSB didn't understand the law correctly, and now all is cleared by the Constitutional Court's decision," Mr Schmidt said.
The latest legal set-back came as a blow to Nikitin's wife Tatyana Chernova and 18-year-old daughter Yulia who attended the military court at 37 Mayakovskovo Ulitsa.
Although Russian law stipulates that Mrs Chernova be allowed two visits a month to her husband, the closed military court hearing -- at which a heavily guarded Nikitin was kept at a distance from her -- was the first time she had seen her husband since February 28.