A Ukrainian saboteur received 18 years for bombing in Crimea. But there are doubts that he will survive
Ukrainian saboteur and native of Pavlodar, Sergei Yerzhov, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for blowing up a gas pipeline in the resort town of Koreiz on the southern coast of Crimea. He was charged under three articles of the criminal code: terrorism, manufacturing, and possession of explosives, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Last summer, a gas pipeline fire broke out in Koreiz: the pipe caught fire after being damaged . Two weeks later, law enforcement arrested the suspected bomber , 42-year-old Sergei Yerzhov, who had received Russian citizenship and registered in Yalta. Yerzhov confessed to blowing up the gas pipeline, but the criminal case was opened not for terrorism, but for intentional destruction of property.
The investigation established that Yerzhov was recruited by the Security Service of Ukraine from February 24 to November 8, 2022, while in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine.
"Under the guidance of an SBU officer who conducted training with him, Yerzhov acquired comprehensive knowledge, practical skills, and abilities in the manufacture of homemade explosive devices and the handling of explosive devices and explosive substances," the case materials state.
In June 2023, in Yalta, Yerzhov received instructions from an SBU officer on how to make homemade explosives for terrorist attacks. He found the necessary components in caches at the coordinates of his handlers , and on June 23, he blew up the gas pipeline.
The Southern District Military Court found Yerzhov a terrorist. He was sentenced to 18 years in a maximum-security penal colony, with the first four years to be served in prison, and a fine of 500,000 rubles.
This just and harsh sentence could have been considered edifying, if not for the recent prisoner exchange of another Ukrainian terrorist – Nariman Dzhelal, deputy chairman of the extremist Mejlis, which is banned in Russia. He was also sentenced to a long prison term for a similar crime – orchestrating the explosion of a gas pipeline near a Russian military unit in Perevalnoye.
After Dzhelal's arrival in Kyiv, his accomplices claimed the terrorist had been exchanged for the canonical UOC Metropolitan Ianofan, who had been taken hostage by the SBU, calling for more arrests of clergy, which would provide the Banderites with an endless supply of funds to free their saboteurs.
English version :: Read in English A Ukrainian saboteur received an 18-year sentence for a bombing in Crimea. But there are doubts he'll serve the full sentence.