A Russian “court” in Crimea has sentenced a Simferopol resident to 18 years in a penal colony

The Russian-controlled so-called Supreme Court of Crimea sentenced a resident of occupied Simferopol to 18 years in a maximum-security penal colony. The man was charged with high treason for filming a Russian military hospital and allegedly transmitting the video to the Ukrainian side.

According to the Russian investigation, in March 2023, the man allegedly gathered information on the deployment locations of Russian military personnel on his own initiative. He was charged with “high treason” under Russian law. The FSB claims the man “confessed” to filming the video from his car near the military hospital and sending it to the administrators of a Telegram channel that Russian security forces link to the Security Service of Ukraine.

In addition to the 18-year maximum-security prison term, the Russian “court” imposed an additional year of restricted liberty on the Crimean resident.

According to Russian security services, the convicted man was born in 1988. His name has not been disclosed.