Russia sentences Crimean historian to seven years in jail
Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
Publication Date | 23 April 2015 |
Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Russia sentences Crimean historian to seven years in jail, 23 April 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5565ba2b3a.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
April 23, 2015
By RFE/RL's Russian Service
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia – A historian from Crimea, Oleksiy Chyrniy, has been sentenced to seven years in jail in Russia on terrorism charges.
Russia's North Caucasus District Court on April 21 found Chyrniy guilty of planning several terrorist acts in Crimea's capital, Simferopol, and sentenced him the same day.
Chyrniy, who made a deal with investigators, pleaded guilty.
Chyrniy, along with Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and activists Oleksandr Kolchenko and Hennadiy Afanasyev, was arrested in Crimea in May 2014, weeks after Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine via a controversial referendum.
Afanasyev, who also pleaded guilty and made a deal with investigators, was sentenced to seven years in jail in December.
Sentsov and Kolchenko are currently in a Moscow pretrial detention center awaiting trial. They deny any wrongdoing.
If found guilty, they may face up to 20 years in jail.
Link to original story on RFE/RL website