Russian court arrested Pavlo Hryb prior to his abduction – lawyer

Hryb’s lawyer Andrei Sabinin said this in a commentary to the Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper.

According to him, the court in Russia delivered a judgment to arrest Hryb on August 17, prior to his arrival in Belarus on August 24. On-the-spot arrest was registered officially on August 25.

"The court ruled to arrest him for two months as early as August 17. The judgment was delivered in absentia," Sabinin said.

The lawyer added that the court would have to consider decision on the future fate of Hryb after this two-month period expired.

"If the investigation is completed, the court must deliver a verdict: either acquittal or conviction. However, the charges of terrorism are rather serious and it will take much time to conduct investigation. The arrest is most likely to be prolonged," he said.

As reported, on August 27, a Ukrainian citizen and a former border guard officer, Ihor Hryb, appealed to the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk with a statement that his son, Pavlo, born in 1998, disappeared in Belarus.

On August 24, the young man left Chernihiv for Gomel and disappeared there. Ihor Hryb initially searched for his son in Belarus independently. Police representatives in Gomel reported that his son had been placed on the wanted list by the FSB of the Krasnodar Territory of Russia under an article "terrorist act."

Ihor Hryb previously served in the Ukrainian border troops and is now involved in the creation of a chaplaincy service in law enforcement agencies. He suspects that Russia's special services kidnapped his son in Belarus.

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