Court returns indictment against Pavlo Hryb back to prosecutors

23.07.2018 14:15

Ukrinform

The panel of judges of the North Caucasus Military District Court in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has returned the indictment against Ukrainian Pavlo Hryb to prosecutors for revision.

Presiding judge Sergei Gorelov drew attention to the fact that the indictment refers to the old version of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of Russia. The article provides for eight years in prison, but is no longer in force. The prosecutor said that was a mistake and he meant the new version of the article, according to which the defendant faces up to 10 years in prison, Hromadske reports.

Lawyer Marina Dubrovina stated that toughening of punishment contradicted the Russian Constitution.

The panel of judges returned the indictment to the prosecutor.

Pavlo Hryb said at the hearing that he did not admit his guilt, Radio Liberty reported.

As reported, Pavlo Hryb disappeared on August 24, 2017 in Belarus, where he went to the city of Gostomel to date a girl with whom he communicated on social networking sites.

In September, it became known that Pavlo Hryb was in a detention center in Krasnodar (Russia), charged with terrorism. At the same time, his lawyer said that Pavlo had been kidnapped by FSB officers.