A court in Russia-occupied Crimea has sentenced Andriy Zakhtei, a suspect in the so-called case of "Ukrainian saboteurs", to six-and-a-half years in a high-security penal colony and a fine of $3800, a Crimea.Realities correspondent reports.
Zakhtei was charged with crimes under Part 1, Article 30 and Part 2, Article 281 (preparation for sabotage), Part 3, Article 222 (illegal sale of weapons or ammunition), Article 324 (purchase and sale of official documents and state awards) and Article 327 (forgery, production or sale of forged documents) of the Criminal Code of Russia. Russian prosecutor Svetlana Udinskaya asked the court to sentence Zakhtei to seven years in prison.
On August 10, 2016, Russia's FSB reported that in the early hours of August 7 in Crimea, it detained a group of "Ukrainian saboteurs" who supposedly plotted terrorist attacks on the peninsula.
Russian intelligence agencies claim that detainees Yevhen Panov and Andriy Zakhtei were members of a "group of saboteurs" who allegedly planned to stage terrorist attacks on the facilities of the tourist and social infrastructure of the peninsula. Later, Zakhtei signed a pre-trial agreement with the investigation. One of the conditions for signing the agreement on the part of the investigation was the refusal of the defendant to have a lawyer.
The Ukrainian authorities deny accusations from Russia against the Ukrainians, describing them as a provocation by Russian special services. Another suspect in this case, Panov, remains in a pre-trial detention center until April 9, 2018.