A man accused of burning a Quran who was subsequently assaulted by Ramzan Kadyrov’s son in detention has been sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison for collaborating with Ukraine.
On Monday, the United Press Service of Regional Courts in Russia announced that Nikita Zhuravel, 20, was found guilty of treason by a court in Volgograd.
He was sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison ‘followed by the restriction of freedom for a period of one year’.
He was previously sentenced in February to three and a half years in prison by the Visatovsky District Court in Chechnya for insulting the feelings of believers by burning a Quran.
The press service reported that Zhuravel pleaded guilty, and that he admitted to cooperating with Ukraine’s special services by sending them videos of Russian military equipment filmed on his phone.
They added that Zhuravel, ‘being in disagreement with the political course’ of Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, corresponded with a member of Ukraine’s special services and carried out tasks for them ‘against the security of the Russian Federation, thereby committing high treason’.
V1, a local media outlet in Volgograd, reported that Zhuravel’s trial was ‘extremely fast’ saying that the first hearing took place on 14 November, and the verdict was announced on 25 November..
They also stated that Zhuravel’s sentence had not yet entered into legal force and could be appealed. V1 reported that the trial was held behind closed doors.
While Zhuravel was detained in Volgograd on suspicion of having burnt a copy of the Islamic holy book, he was transferred to Chechnya, where footage emerged of Ramzan Kadyrov’s son, Adam Kadyrov, assaulting him in pre-trial detention.
[Read more: Quran burner beaten by Adam Kadyrov charged with treason]
In November last year, Russian rights group Memorial recognised Nikita Zhuravel as a political prisoner.
Read in Armenian on CivilNet.
