Melitopol native sentenced to 27 years in Russian prison for attempting to poison military graduates

Ukrainian national Yehor Semenov has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for his involvement in the "poisoning" of graduates from the Armavir Higher Military Aviation School. The ruling has been handed down by the Southern District Military Court in Russia.

Source: Russia's Southern District Military Court on Telegram

Quote: "The defendant has been found guilty and sentenced to 27 years' imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony with the first 5 years to be served in prison."

Details: Russian investigators claimed that Semenov had intended to cooperate with Ukrainian security services as early as February 2023. He allegedly recorded a video message in Ukrainian expressing his intent to collaborate with Ukraine's Security Service and Armed Forces, and was later tasked with organising the poisoning of Russian military personnel.

The target was graduates of the Armavir Air Defence School, who were planning a banquet in October 2023. According to the prosecution, Semenov was tasked with delivering alcoholic beverages and a cake laced with a poisonous substance to the event. He allegedly studied the restaurant’s layout, noting the positions of windows, tables and CCTV cameras. He also ordered the cake and purchased the toxic substances.

Semenov supposedly delivered the alcohol and cake to the restaurant by courier on 20 October. The Russian graduates found the alcohol and cake suspicious and did not consume them.

The defendant was detained on 21 October 2023. The court found him guilty under charges of terrorism and high treason (Article 205.3(a) and Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Background: In October 2023, it was reported that Yehor Semenov, a native of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, had been detained for 15 days in Armavir, Russia's Krasnodar Krai, under an administrative charge of disorderly conduct. Russian Telegram channel Baza reported that Semenov had been apprehended in Stavropol while attempting to fly to Moscow.

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