A Russian court sentenced on Friday Ukrainian national Pavlo Hryb to six years in prison on the charge of abetting terrorism, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the court
ROSTOV-ON-DON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd March, 2019) A Russian court sentenced on Friday Ukrainian national Pavlo Hryb to six years in prison on the charge of abetting terrorism, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the court.
According to investigators, Hryb ordered a high school girl from Sochi to detonate a bomb at a graduation party on June 30, 2017, and then flee the country. Hryb himself was in Ukraine at that time and communicated with the young woman online.
"[The court ruled] to sentence Hryb to six years of imprisonment in a general regime penal colony," the chairman of the board of judges said.
Hryb, in turn, did not plead guilty and reacted calmly to the court's decision, confirming that he understood the sentence.
The verdict is yet to enter into force and can be appealed within 10 days.
Ukrainian journalists and representatives of the Ukrainian consulate in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don were present in court during the announcement of the sentence.
The circumstances of Hryb's detention in August 2017 are not officially disclosed. However, Hryb's defense has claimed that the young man, 20, went missing in the Belarusian city of Gomel after being kidnapped by the Russian Federal Security Service. It was in Gomel where he was expected to meet with the girl whom he instructed to bomb a school.
Under the Criminal Code of Russia, a foreigner who does not live permanently in Russia and who has committed a crime abroad is subject to criminal liability in Russia if the crime is directed against the country's interests.
