NIZHNY NOVGOROD, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian provincial school head accused of pirating Microsoft software said on Thursday he will appeal a guilty verdict in Russia's Supreme Court and in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Alexander Ponosov, a school principal in a small town in the Perm Region, was fined 5,000 rubles ($194) in May for buying a set of computers for the school which had unlicensed Microsoft software installed.

"I have sent a preliminary claim against the verdict to Strasbourg, and I will complete the official documentation with a lawyer's help in the near future. In addition, we will appeal the ruling in Russia's Supreme Court," Ponosov said.

The court put the material damage to the Microsoft Corporation at 266,000 rubles ($10,322).

But Ponosov maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, saying he was unaware that the Windows software installed on the PCs was counterfeit. Microsoft has taken no legal action against him.

The maximum possible penalty under Russian law for this offense is five years in prison.

Piracy had been a stumbling block in Russia's WTO accession talks with the United States until an agreement was reached in November 2006, when Moscow promised a clampdown on intellectual property violations in the country, the second-largest market for pirated material after China.