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Ukrainian court sentences Yanukovich in absentia to 15 years in prison on new charges

In the same case, the court sentenced in absentia Konstantin Kobzar, the former deputy head of Ukraine’s state bodyguard department and head of the presidential security service, to 10 years of imprisonment

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. A Kiev court has sentenced former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in absentia to 15 years in prison on charges of incitement to defection and illegal border crossing, according to the Prosecutor-General’s office’s Telegram channel.

In the same case, the court also sentenced in absentia Konstantin Kobzar, the former deputy head of Ukraine’s state bodyguard department and head of the presidential security service, to 10 years of imprisonment. Additionally, 15 other employees of Yanukovich’s security service have been charged in absentia.

Following the February 2014 coup d’etat in Ukraine, Yanukovich, his guards, and nearly all government officials were compelled to urgently leave the country. Ukrainian investigators have characterized this departure as "desertion."

Yanukovich served as Ukraine’s president from 2010 until 2014. In 2019, a Kiev court sentenced him in absentia to 13 years in prison for state treason. Another case concerning state treason remains pending against him, related to his 2010 agreement with Russia to extend the deployment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

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