Head of Russian hacker group sentenced to 2 years

MOSCOW (AP) - A Moscow court has imposed a two-year prison sentence on the leader of a hacker group that some reports have suggested was connected with the arrest of two top officials of Russia's national security service.

Vladimir Anikeyev was sentenced Thursday on a conviction of hacking the accounts of several prominent Russians, including the spokeswoman for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The trial was conducted behind closed doors. Details of the proceedings were unclear.

Anikeyev headed a hacker group called Shaltai-Boltai (Humpty-Dumpty). He was arrested last November, but the arrest became known only after Russian news media reported that two officials of the Federal Security Service's cybercrime unit had been arrested on treason charges.

Some news reports suggested the officials had connections to the hacker group or had tried to control it.