The conviction of Rafael Marcus Lusvarghi, a citizen of Brazil sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment for fighting on the side of the Russia-backed self-proclaimed Donbas republics, has come into effect.
“The Dnipro court of appeals made such a decision at a session on Wednesday, July 31, 2019, after considering the defense appeal,” the press service for the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday.
In court Lusvarghi petitioned for withdrawal of the complaint, which is why the court decided to stop the appellate proceedings, the statement said.
“By law, such decision by a court entails coming into force of the ruling being appealed against. In turn, the decision by a court of appeals may not be appealed,” prosecutors said.
After the hearing Lusvarghi was sent to prison, the statement said.
The time spent by the accused in custody before his sentencing on May 2 will be counted towards his prison term, prosecutors said.
Lusvarghi was arrested at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport shortly after arriving from Brazil on October 6, 2016. Investigators found that between September 2014 and May 2015 he was a member of armed formations of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” and was involved in fighting, recruited foreigners and carried out scout incursions into Ukrainian army positions and adjusted artillery fire aimed at Ukrainian positions.
On January 25, 2017, Kyiv’s Pechersky district court found Lusvarghi guilty under Part 1 of Article 258-3 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code on charges of forming an illegal terrorist group. He was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment and asset confiscation. Lusvarghi pleaded guilty.
On August 18, Kyiv’s Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, having found procedural irregularities, and extended the custody period for the Brazilian. Later he was released from custody and lived at a monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
On May 4, 2018, National Corps and C14 nationalists detained Lusvarghi outside the Brazilian embassy and handed him over the Security Service of Ukraine for questioning. Kyiv prosecutors said they would insist on the man being remanded in custody.
On May 7, 2018, a court in the town of Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk region granted the prosecutors’ request and ordered 60-day arrest of Lusvarghi without possibility of bail, and subsequently extended the custody period several times.
On May 2, 2019, the same court found Lusvarghi guilty of membership of a terrorist organization and illegal armed formations in Ukraine and sentenced him to 13 years of imprisonment and asset confiscation.
