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Crimea and Sevastopol

Mastermind of Crimean 2015 blackout sentenced to 19 years in prison

The damage to Crimean enterprises from power outage is estimated at about $15 mln, the prosecutor’s office told TASS back in 2016

Lenur Islyamov AP Photo/Alexander Polegenko

Lenur Islyamov

© AP Photo/Alexander Polegenko

SIMFEROPOL, December 10. /TASS/. The Supreme Court of Crimea sentenced in absentia former Deputy Prime Minister of the republic Lenur Islyamov, charged with organization of sabotage, establishment of illegal militia and calls for violation of Russia’s territorial integrity, to 19 years in prison.

Read also

Massive power blackout in Crimea

"To sentence Islyamov Lenur Edemovich to […] 19 years in prison, strip him of the right to engage in activities that imply media appearances and restrict freedom for one year," the judge ruled.

The sentence term will begin after Islyamov is handed over to the Russian law enforcement. He is currently in Kiev, according to his attorney Nikolay Polozov.

In 2014, Islyamov left for Ukraine and established a militia there - the so-called Celebicihan Crimean Tatar voluntary battalion. The battalion had been created in order to blockade Crimea from the side of Ukraine and to fight for the return of the peninsula to Ukraine.

Islyamov is believed to be a person behind the 2015 sabotage of power lines in Ukraine, which cut Crimea off electricity supply on November 22. A criminal case was initiated over this incident, classified as sabotage.

The damage to Crimean enterprises from power outage is estimated at over 1.1 billion rubles (about $15 mln), the prosecutor’s office told TASS back in 2016. Crimea’s Krymenergo state company filed a 1 billion-ruble (about $13.6 mln) collective lawsuit against Islyamov in the name of all Crimean organizations that suffered from the blackout.

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Crimea and Sevastopol

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