17:55, 29 July 2017

Sochi women convicted for treason pardoned by Russian President

A penal colony. Photo: Yuliya Simatova / Yugopolis

Sochi residents Annik Kesyan and Marina Janjgava, convicted for state treason after sending SMS-messages to Georgia, have been exempted from serving their sentences by respective presidential decrees.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 19, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" recognized the Sochi residents Marina Janjgava, Inga Tutisani and Annik (Aniko) Kesyan to be political prisoners. The sentences handed down to them should be abolished, rights defenders stated then.

In December 2016, lawyers from the "Team 29", who represented the interests of Oksana Sevastidi, who had been convicted for state treason and pardoned by the President, said that they would deal with similar cases of other residents of the Krasnodar Territory. According to lawyers, at least nine residents of the Territory had been convicted for state treason.

"To pardon Annik Kesyan, born in 1959, convicted on August 17, 2015, by the Krasnodar Territorial Court, by releasing her from further serving her sentence in the form of imprisonment," says the decree posted on the official Internet portal of legal information.

Marina Janjgava is also exempted from serving her sentence; and her fine has been reduced to the sum already paid by her.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.