The Appeal Court of Ukraine’s Luhansk region upheld on April 5 the ten-year sentence given by the Novoaidar District Court to former Russian serviceman Viktor Ageyev, the defendant’s lawyer, Viktor Chevguz, wrote on Facebook on April 6.
“I have just returned from Severodonetsk, where the Appeal Court of Luhansk region met yesterday [to consider] the criminal case against Russian citizen Viktor Ageyev. Unfortunately, the judges did not listen to the arguments of the defense and upheld the sentence passed by the Novoaidar District Court,” Chevguz said.
Chevguz said both he and his client were displeased at the decision of the Appeal Court and would file an appeal with the Ukrainian Supreme Court.
Ageyev was convicted of illegally buying and carrying weapons and ammunition and forming a terrorist group, Chevguz said. “The sentence has taken effect and, theoretically, he may be sent to a penitentiary to serve his time,” he said.
On January 25, the Novoaidar District Court in Luhansk region sentenced Ageyev to ten years in prison.
The prosecutor described the self-proclaimed ‘LPR’ as a terrorist organization, which Ageyev contractually joined.
The defense argued that the prosecutor’s classification of Ageyev’s conduct as membership in a terrorist organization is erroneous. “The court agreed with the prosecutors’ opinion, but we will appeal the sentence from the angle of classification and penalty. We believe that the ten-year sentence is too severe, considering the alleviating circumstances,” Chevguz said after Ageyev was found guilty.
The Ukrainian military detained four persons, including Ageyev, near the village of Zholobok in the Slovianoserbsk district of Luhansk region on June 24, 2017.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ageyev was a former conscript discharged and transferred to the reserves in May 2016.
On July 22, Ukrainian Security Service Director Vasyl Hrytsak described Ageyev’s activity as terrorism.
