Sverdlovsk court docket handout through ReutersRussian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina has pleaded responsible to treason expenses after she was arrested for donating cash to a charity supporting Ukraine.
Russian prosecutors are in search of a 15-year sentence after the safety providers accused Ms Karelina of amassing cash that was used to buy tactical provides for the Ukrainian military.
She was detained by authorities in Yekaterinburg, about 1,600km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow after a household go to in February.
The sentence comes one week after Russia and the West carried out the most important prisoner trade for the reason that Chilly Warfare, the place 24 folks jailed in seven completely different nations had been exchanged.
Ms Karelina’s lawyer mentioned the prosecutors’ request for a 15-year sentence in a penal colony was too extreme because the defendant had cooperated with the investigation.
Mikhail Mushailov additionally mentioned it was “not possible” for Ms Karelina to have been included within the latest prisoner trade, as a result of an trade can solely occur as soon as the court docket verdict comes into drive.
“After the decision, in fact, we are going to work on this course,” Mr Mushailov instructed reporters on Thursday.
The Los Angeles resident had been dwelling away from Russia for a number of years and gained American citizenship in 2021.
She travelled to Russia for a household go to again in January, and has since been prevented from returning to her house in Los Angeles.
It has been broadly reported that investigators introduced the treason cost towards her after discovering she had donated round $50 (£39) to Razom, a charity that helps Ukraine.
The charity mentioned it was “appalled” to listen to of the novice ballerina’s arrest.
ReutersMs Karelina’s expenses and trial come after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in April final 12 months growing the utmost sentence for treason to life in jail, up from 20 years, as a part of a crackdown on dissent.
Talking with the BBC on the time of Ms Karelina’s arrest, her companion mentioned she was “proud to be Russian” – and had remained assured that she might journey within the nation, he defined.
Chris Van Heerden has been campaigning since information of the arrest for the US authorities to free his girlfriend from Russian detention.
The FSB mentioned Ms Karelina had been detained in Yekaterinburg in February – the identical metropolis through which US journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested on expenses of espionage on 29 March final 12 months.
On 1 August Mr Gershkovich was one among 16 prisoners freed and returned to Europe and the US in return for eight Russian prisoners who had been launched from prisons within the US, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia.
