Helped to seize Crimea - got 15 years in prison: member of the so-called "Sevastopol Self-Defense" sentenced

In 2014, the citizen of Ukraine voluntarily joined the ranks of the illegal armed group 'Sevastopol Self-Defense', which operated during the active phase of the occupation of the peninsula.

According to the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, on March 16, 2014, the convict was directly involved in the protection of polling stations and ensuring the holding of an illegal "all-Crimean referendum" on the accession of the peninsula to the Russian Federation in Sevastopol. In addition, on March 19, 2014, together with other "self-defense" activists, he blocked and seized the headquarters of the Ukrainian Navy in Sevastopol to prevent the Ukrainian military from countering the occupation of the peninsula.

For fulfilling the tasks set by the occupiers, the accused was awarded the Russian Emergencies Ministry's badge "Participant of the Emergency Response" as a member of the "Sevastopol Self-Defense" and the "Regional Public Organization "Sevastopol without Fascism".

The man was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison following a public prosecution by the prosecutor's office of the autonomy. He was found guilty of encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine, high treason and participation in illegal armed groups in an attack on enterprises, institutions and organizations.

Earlier in Ukraine, Artem Maltsev , a deputy of the Sevastopol City Council of the VI convocation, was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison under the article on high treason. Before the annexation of Crimea, Maltsev worked for the commercial organization Sevbudmontazh LLC. He was a deputy of the Sevastopol City Council of the V and VI convocations (until September 14, 2014), a member of the Communists of Sevastopol parliamentary faction, and the City Council's Standing Committee on Industry, Agriculture, Trade and Entrepreneurship. And in March 2014, the convict, together with other members of the Sevastopol City Council, voted for the adoption of an illegal resolution "On the Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol", which contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine.

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