18:56, 20 December 2013

Tuapse court replaces conditional imprisonment of Evgeny Vitishko for real one

Today, the court in the city of Tuapse has considered the petition lodged by the local Department of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (known as UFSIN), cancelled the conditional sentence earlier appointed to the ecologist Evgeny Vitishko and sentenced him to a real imprisonment.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the court had found Evgeny Vitishko and Suren Gazaryan, the activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", guilty of damaging the fence around the so-called "summer cottage" of Governor of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachov and sentenced both of them to three years of conditional imprisonment.

Nevertheless, the inspection of the UFSIN demanded to change the sentence to Vitishko for the real custody, and moved a respective motion to the court.

Today, the court has questioned several witnesses for the prosecution and for the defence. Then, the judge retired for two hours to the consultation room to formulate his decision.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that the court has satisfied the motion of the UFSIN – now, Evgeny Vitishko will be convoyed for three years to a colony-settlement.