15-08-24, 10:37
|
#2
|
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 50,527
Thanks: 28,767
Thanked 14,428 Times in 10,234 Posts
|
US/Russian Ballerina Jailed For 12Yrs For Donating $51.80 to Ukraines Military
US/Russian Ballerina Ksenia Karelina Jailed For 12 Years in Russia For High Treason
She Donated $51.80 To a Ukrainian Charity
MailOnline 15 AUG 2024
The Russian-American ballerina accused of committing treason by donating $51.80 to Ukraines military has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Ksenia Karelina was found guilty of 'high treason' by a Russian court on Thursday and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in a general regime colony, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg said.
Khavana was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February. She pleaded guilty in her closed trial last week, news reports said.
She reportedly obtained US citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles. She had returned to Russia to visit her family.
Russia's Federal Security Service said she 'proactively collected money in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organizations, which was subsequently used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons, and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces.'
The court heard that investigators found Karelina had, on February 24, 2022 - the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine - 'transferred funds in the interests of a Ukrainian organization, which were subsequently used for the purchase of tactical medicine items, equipment, means of defeat and ammunition by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.'
Her supporters say she had donated $51.80 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based charity that provides humanitarian aid to children and elderly people in Ukraine. The charity has denied it provides any military support to Kyiv.
Karelina appeared in court on Thursday in a white sweatshirt and blue jeans, sitting calmly in a glass courtroom cage.
She was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Thursday after she was found guilty of treason for donating money to a charity supporting Ukraine.
The Los Angeles resident pleaded guilty at her closed trial in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where her case was heard by the same court that convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage in July.
The 33-year-old ballerina was not included in a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West last week that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was convicted of espionage in July.
But Karelina's lawyer Mikhail Mushailov has said she hoped to be included in a future exchange.
She pleaded guilty in her closed trial last week. Karelina is pictured at the Sverdlovsk regional Court on 20 June, 2024
|
|
|