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Russia Seeks Combined 152 Years in Prison for Eight Crimeans Accused of Ukrainian Intelligence Ties
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A Russian prosecutor has requested a combined 152 years in prison for eight residents of Russian-occupied Crimea accused by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) of belonging to an alleged Ukrainian intelligence network, Ukrainian human rights initiative Tribunal. Crimean Episode reported on October 7.
According to a statement published by the organization on Telegram, the FSB described the defendants as members of a highly clandestine Ukrainian intelligence group allegedly involved in sabotage operations and preparations for attacks against Russian-installed officials in Crimea.
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Russian authorities claim the group operated secret channels for supplying explosives, carried out railway sabotage, installed surveillance equipment, and planned assassination attempts against Sergei Aksyonov and Vladimir Konstantinov, two senior Russian-installed officials in occupied Crimea.
However, the human rights organization questioned the credibility of the accusations, arguing that the prosecution's account began to unravel during the first court hearing due to contradictory testimony from the defendants.
Viktor Podvalnyi, whom investigators identified as the alleged coordinator of the group, told the court that he barely knew the other defendants.
Another accused, Kyrylo Barannyk, admitted to blowing up railway tracks but maintained that he had acted independently and did not know any of the other defendants. Barannyk also alleged that he had been subjected to torture during detention, including electric shocks, suffocation, and simulated drowning.
A separate defendant suggested that his arrest may have been connected to parking his vehicle near the residence of Russian-installed Crimean official Vladimir Konstantinov.
Another accused, Voynarovska, said she had signed testimony after an FSB investigator threatened to place her child in an orphanage.
The human rights initiative argued that these accounts raised serious concerns about the reliability of the evidence presented by Russian investigators and the circumstances under which testimony had been obtained.
The proceedings are being overseen by Russian judge Igor Kostin and two other judges, according to Tribunal. Crimean Episode.
The organization criticized Kostin's previous judicial record, alleging that he had earlier sentenced an innocent Ukrainian farmer to life imprisonment despite evidence establishing an alibi.
“Kostin was not the only judge involved in the trial of the Crimean residents, and the identities of the others will also be established. All of them will undoubtedly face an international tribunal for the war crimes of denying defendants access to a fair trial and complicity in unlawful imprisonment,” the organization added.
The case follows another lengthy prison sentence imposed on a Ukrainian citizen by a Russian military court. On August 4, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center reported that 30-year-old Ukrainian national Yan Haupt had been sentenced to 24 years in prison over allegations of planning and committing a “terrorist act.”
The Southern District Military Court in Russia ordered Haupt to serve the first five years of his sentence in prison, followed by 19 years in a maximum-security penal colony. The court also imposed a fine of 700,000 rubles (approximately $8,700).
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