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Crimean court sentences Ukrainian national to 8 years behind bars

Crimea’s Supreme Court has found Ukrainian citizen Yevgeny Panov guilty of the illegal arms trade

Yevgeny Panov Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Yevgeny Panov

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

SIMFEROPOL, July 13. /TASS/. Crimea’s Supreme Court has found Ukrainian citizen Yevgeny Panov guilty of the illegal trade in arms and plotting subversive acts in the region and sentenced him to eight years in prison, TASS reports from the courtroom.

"The court rules to find Yevgeny Panov guilty and sentence him to eight years in a strict-security prison," Judge Andrei Paliy announced, reading out the verdict.

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Crimean court imprisons Ukrainian saboteur for plotting acts of terror on peninsula

Specifically, the court found the Ukrainian national guilty under part 3 of article 222 ("The Illegal Acquisition, Transfer, Sale, Storage, Transportation or Bearing of Firearms, Basic Parts Thereof and Ammunition"), part 3 of article 30 ("Preparing a Crime and an Attempted Crime"), part 3 of article 226.1 ("Smuggling Superpotent, Poisonous, Toxic, Explosive, Radioactive Substances and Radiation Sources, Nuclear Materials, Firearms or Basic Components Thereof, Explosives and Ammunition") and part 2 of article 281 ("Subversive Activity").

The prosecutors demanded sentencing Panov to ten years and a half in a strict-security prison.

The convict’s lawyer Olga Dinze told journalists after the verdict was read out that the defense team would file an appeal to Russia’s Supreme Court.

‘We will appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court of Russia," she said.

Subversion activity case

On August 10, 2016, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the detention of a group of saboteurs in Crimea. Apart from that, it said it had prevented terrorist attacks in Crimea that had been plotted by Ukraine’s main intelligence directorate. According to the FSB, the targets of the terrorist attacks were Crimea’s critical infrastructure and vital facilities. Two men, Andrei Zakhtey and Yevgeny Panov, were detained.

The Crimean Supreme Court had been examining the case against Panov since April 16. The defendant refused to plead guilty.

The criminal case against Zakhtei was singled out in separate proceedings. The defendant pleaded guilty and his case was examined in a special procedure, without the questioning of witnesses. The Crimean Supreme Court sentenced the man to six years and a half in prison.

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