World Courant
A Russian court docket has sentenced newbie ballerina Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in jail for treason, after she donated $51 (£39) to a charity supporting Ukraine.
Karelina, who holds twin American and Russian citizenship, pleaded responsible final week after a closed-door trial.
She lived in Los Angeles and have become a US citizen in 2021. She was arrested whereas visiting household in Yekaterinburg, about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow.
Prosecutors had sought a 15-year jail sentence. The Yekaterinburg court docket discovered her responsible of excessive treason and sentenced her to imprisonment in a normal regime penal colony.
Karelina was accused by Russia’s FSB safety service of elevating cash for a Ukrainian group that equipped weapons to the Ukrainian military.
The charity Razom mentioned it was “shocked” to listen to of the newbie ballerina’s arrest.
In June, she was tried in the identical court docket as Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Road Journal reporter who was jailed on espionage fees however was launched earlier this month as a part of a significant prisoner swap with the US and different nations.
Her boyfriend, boxer Chris van Heerden, mentioned final week that the trial was painful and nerve-wracking.
“I am unable to probably put myself in her footwear and picture what she’s going by way of,” he mentioned.
American-Russian lady imprisoned in Russia for 12 years for treason
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