The court in Moscow sentenced the sergeant to 13 years in prison in the case of treason

The Second Western District Military Court in Moscow sentenced serviceman Artyom Semenov to 13 years in a strict regime colony on charges of treason. The defendant was also given the military rank of sergeant. This is reported by “Interfax” and TASS with references to their correspondents.

The process took place behind closed doors, as the criminal case is classified. The investigation did not report the details of the case.

From the materials announced by the judge in the operative part of the sentence, it followed that Semenov was detained on March 30, 2022. Before his arrest, he served in one of the units located in the Belgorod region. As clarified in court, Semyonov’s alleged crime was committed before the start of the war in Ukraine.

• Since the beginning of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, Russian courts have handed down at least 15 verdicts in treason cases. In several cases, the accused worked for Ukrainian intelligence agencies, according to the investigation. In the period from 1997 to 2021, 117 people were accused of treason.
• According to “BBC” estimates, in 2023, 26 people were already arrested in Russia on charges of treason.

• In April, the State Duma adopted amendments on a life sentence on such charges. The law has not yet been signed by President Putin, and now the penalty for this article is up to 20 years.