A former Russian diplomat convicted of spying for South Korea has lost his appeal to overturn an espionage verdict. Valentin Moiseyev, a former deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry's Asia desk, was convicted in August and sentenced to four and a half years in prison for passing secrets to South Korea for several years. The Supreme Court refused Wednesday to overturn the conviction. Moiseyev and his lawyers said they will appeal to the Supreme Court presidium, a higher body within the court, and to the European Court of Human Rights. Moiseyev's lawyers say prosecutors failed to prove Moiseyev passed secrets to South Korean intelligence agents, and accused investigators of tampering with evidence.