Odesa Court sentences journalist to three years probation for separatism
The Suvorovsky District Court in Odesa, southern Ukraine, found a local journalist guilty of separatism.
The man was sentenced to three years of restriction of liberty with forfeiture of property, the prosecutor’s office of Odesa region reports.
The prosecutor’s office representatives claim that the journalist was preparing conditions for encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine and illegally purchased and kept narcotic substances on a large scale without the purpose of sale.
In July 2015, the Security Service of Ukraine regional department initiated the criminal proceedings over the abovementioned facts.
The investigators found that in January – April 2015 the journalist, who served as editor of the news web portal, had intentionally created conditions for further illegal declaration of state formation called “Bessarabia” in the territory of a number of districts of Odesa region.
A number of evidence proving his guilt was gathered, the Odesa region prosecutor’s office claims. The man gave a full confession.
In addition, the accused person consented to sign an agreement on admission of guilt and agreed to restriction of liberty for a term of three years and pledged to give evidence and to cooperate with the investigators in exposing criminal offenses committed by others.
The sources of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency said to the police that it referred to Vitaly Didenko, the editor of the InfoCenter pro-Russian news website.
