Chinese Citizen Fined ₴170K for Unauthorized Military Info in Odesa

The Malynovskyi District Court of Odesa approved a plea agreement between the prosecutor and a Chinese citizen who was accused of unauthorized dissemination of information on the movement of ammunition and weapons.

As stated in the verdict, the accused was charged with an offense under part 2 of Article 142-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, i.e. dissemination of information on the movement, movement or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other military formations formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, if it is possible to identify them on the ground, if such information was not publicly available by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine or other authorized state bodies, committed in conditions of martial law or emergency.

In other words, the Chinese citizen faced imprisonment for a term of five to eight years, but was sentenced to a fine of 170 thousand hryvnias. In May 2022, he unauthorizedly posted and distributed a video depicting the territory of the Shkilnyi airfield, where military equipment in the form of military aircraft was located, and later posted and distributed a photograph of the site of an enemy missile hit near the territory of the Shkilnyi airfield in Odesa.

He also posted and disseminated a video of an enemy missile hitting the Ivanivskyi Bridge in Odesa, and later two videos of the operation of stationary air defense systems with landmarks on Hrushevskoho Street, and disseminated a photo of the results of an enemy missile being shot down by air defense forces.

In total, there were about a dozen such posts and publications.

This is not the first Chinese citizen to be convicted in Odesa for such offenses. In 2023, the Primorskyi Court of Odesa found Wang Jixiang, a citizen of the People's Republic of China, guilty of unauthorized dissemination of information on the deployment and movement of weapons, armaments, and ammunition and sentenced him to 5 years in prison, replacing the actual term with a probationary period of one year.

Кирило Бойко