A Russian court in the occupied part of the Kherson region has sentenced a man to three and a half years in prison for allegedly taking part in the ‘Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhan’. Noman Chelebidzhikhan’. This is reported by the Russian media with reference to the occupation Department of the FSB in Crimea.
It is alleged that the convict is a Russian citizen born in 1988. In the ‘battalion’ he allegedly joined in 2015.
‘Being provided with firearms, he performed functional duties to check persons and vehicles at checkpoints on the border between Ukraine and Russia, guarding the objects of the NVF. At the same time, until now, he has not declared his voluntary termination of participation in the said NVF,’ the FSB said.
A case was opened against the man under Article 208 (participation in the territory of a foreign state in an armed formation not provided for by the legislation of this state for the purposes contrary to the interests of Russia) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.