Russian court upholds Ukraine’s ex-Navy officer’s verdict

Kremlin-controlled Supreme Court in temporarily occupied Crimea upheld the verdict handed down by the Dzhankoy district court, which sentenced reserve officer of the Ukrainian Navy, Oleksiy Kyseliov, to 8.5 years of imprisonment.

This was reported by RFE/RL’s Crimea.Realities with reference to Kyseliov’s lawyer Oleksiy Ladin, Ukrinform saw.

According to the lawyer, the defense team intends to further appeal the ruling.

"The Supreme Court of Crimea upheld the verdict of the Dzhankoy court, according to which Kyseliov was found guilty of being part of an illegal armed formation. Now we will receive the motivated part and with a high degree of probability we will continue to seek justice by legal means," he said.

On July 22, 2022, Russian security forces detained in Henichesk the ex-commander of the Ukrainian Navy’s reconnaissance vessel Slavutych, Oleksiy Kyseliov. The ex-officer was subjected to torture while in captivity before he was transferred to occupied Crimea and put in a pre-trial detention center.

Kyseliov was accused of being part of the Noman Chelebidzhikhan Battalion under Art. 208 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court of Russia had previously recognized the Battalion as a terrorist organization. The founder of the Noman Chelebidzhikhan Battalion, Lenur Islyamov, denies that Oleksiy Kiselyov has ever been part of the unit.