Diamond Member Pelican Press 0 Posted August 15, 2024 Diamond Member Share Posted August 15, 2024 This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Russia Sentences U.S. Citizen to 12 Years in Prison on Treason Charges A court in Russia sentenced a dual citizen of Russia and the ******* States on Thursday to 12 years in prison on accusations that she committed treason by donating money — about $50 — for Ukraine’s armed forces. The court, in the city of Yekaterinburg, claimed to have found that the funds donated by the woman, Ksenia Karelina, 32, “were subsequently used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition” for Ukraine. The prosecution nearly always gets its way in treason cases in Russia’s stage-managed judicial system, but her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said he would still appeal to try to get her sentence reduced. “I was not surprised by the prison sentence or the way the trial was conducted,” Mr. Mushailov said by telephone from Yekaterinburg. The conviction of Ms. Karelina, also known as Ksenia Khavana, was the latest in a series of treason and other cases by Russia against citizens of Western countries. The surge in such cases in recent years has raised concerns that the Kremlin views the accused as valuable assets to be traded for high-profile Russians held by the ******* States and other countries in the West. Mr. Mushailov said that in addition to appealing Ms. Karelina’s sentence, he would be “taking all the legally required actions” to make her part of any future prisoner exchange between Russia and the West. Russian investigators accused Ms. Karelina of donating $52 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based nonprofit that sends assistance to Ukraine, This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up , a group of Russian lawyers who specialize in cases involving accusations of treason and other politically charged issues. A Razom for Ukraine spokeswoman said on Thursday: “We are a New York-based nonprofit providing humanitarian aid and assistance to Ukraine. We do not provide weapons to Ukraine’s military.” Ms. Karelina, who is from Yekaterinburg and lives in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty, according to Mr. Mushailov and the court. He has not disclosed further details about the case, because it is classified. Ms. Karelina, whose trial began on June 20, was arrested in February while visiting Yekaterinburg, an industrial city about 850 miles east of Moscow. Her case was heard by the same judge who presided over the trial of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was freed this month in a prisoner swap after receiving a 16-year sentence in July. That prisoner swap was the largest between Russia and Western countries since the Cold War. President Vladimir V. ****** of Russia and President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus, his ally, released 16 prisoners, including Mr. Gershkovich, the Russian ********* journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine. They were exchanged for a convicted ********* and seven other Russians, including hackers and spies. But Russia still has several Americans in its prisons. One is Marc Fogel, a history teacher who worked for almost a decade at the Anglo-********* School of Moscow. In 2021, when trying to enter Russia, Mr. Fogel was arrested and accused of smuggling drugs after customs officers found a small amount of medical ********** in his luggage. His relatives have said it was to treat severe pain. In June 2022, Mr. Fogel, a native of western Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for ***** smuggling. In Russia, people convicted of ******* have often received shorter sentences. Another ********* in Russian custody is Michael Travis Leake, a rock musician who was This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up after prosecutors accused him of organizing a *****-trafficking ring. Perviy Otdel, the legal group, said that Ms. Karelina’s case revolved around $52 donated to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based nonprofit group that This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up . According to Ms. Karelina’s profile on This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up , a Russian social network, she became This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up in 2021. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up , which identified her as a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, said that she had graduated from Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg in 2014. The number of state treason cases in Russia has been growing steadily since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Last year, about 50 people were accused of the offense, This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up , including high-profile critics of the Kremlin and a student accused of photographing Russian Army formations in his town. Oleg Matsnev contributed reporting. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up #Russia #Sentences #U.S #Citizen #Years #Prison #Treason #Charges This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Link to comment https://hopzone.eu/forums/topic/100421-russia-sentences-us-citizen-to-12-years-in-prison-on-treason-charges/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
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