Advocate believes Karpyuk's life sentence possible

Petro Poroshenko has condemned the jury's verdict passed in Grozny to Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh and promised to struggle for their release. If Karpyuk gets a life sentence, it will complicate his transfer to Ukraine, said the advocate Mark Feigin, who had defended Nadezhda Savchenko.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the case of Karpyuk and Klykh has been considered by the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic since October 27, 2015. On May 18, prosecutors asked the jury to render a guilty verdict. Today, the jury has found both defendants guilty, while considering Klykh deserving a leniency.

According to the advocate Ilya Novikov, initially, the jury had no consensus on the verdict.

Karpyuk and Klykh denied their involvement in the conflict in Chechnya and declared being tortured during the investigation. Both were recognized as political prisoners by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Mr Feigin believes that Karpyuk will get a lifelong imprisonment.

"This is a very significant issue for his further transfer to Ukraine under the respective Convention," the advocate wrote in his Twitter.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has promised to do everything to release Karpyuk and Klykh.

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