- Title: Head of Russia's only Ukrainian library gets suspended jail term
- Date: 5th June 2017
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JUNE 5, 2017) (REUTERS) COURT BUILDING FLAGS OF RUSSIA AND MOSCOW WOMAN ENTERING COURT, PEOPLE PASSING BY SIGN WITH NAME OF COURT DEFENDANT NATALYA SHARING ENTERING COURT ROOM COURT BAILIFF SHARINA WAITING SHARINA LISTENING TO HER LAWYER MEDIA COURT BAILIFF SHARINA LISTENING TO VERDICT, SMILING AFTER JUDGE SAYS SHE GETS A SUSPENDED JAIL TERM OF FOUR YEARS MEDIA COURT BAILIFF (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FORMER HEAD OF UKRAINIAN LIBRARY, NATALYA SHARINA, SAYING: "The verdict has nothing to do with reality. And I am very sorry that during these seven months (of hearings), first of all not one of our arguments has been taken into consideration. And at the same time there has not been a single bit of evidence (to support) any of the accusations during the hearings." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FORMER HEAD OF UKRAINIAN LIBRARY, NATALYA SHARINA, SAYING: "Everything became clear during the oral argument. The state prosecutor in her speech has in fact confirmed that the case was a political one." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PROSECUTOR, LYUDMILA BALANDINA, SAYING: "The state prosecution believes that the decision made by the court is in accordance with the law and the punishment is proportional to the actions committed." JOURNALISTS
- Embargoed: 19th June 2017 11:41
- Keywords: suspended term court decision court Ukrainian library Ukraine Russia
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA0016K02HC7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A court in Moscow on Monday (June 5) handed a four-year suspended prison sentence to Natalya Sharina, the head of Russia's only state-run Ukrainian language library.
Sharina was found guilty of inciting ethnic hatred and embezzlement.
Speaking after the verdict was delivered, Sharina said the case against her had been politically motivated. She added her lawyers would appeal the "unjust" court decision.
Rights group Amnesty International released a statement that said the verdict 'demonstrates utter contempt for the rule of law and highlights flaws in the independence of Russia's judiciary'.
The Ukrainian library's problems got serious in October 2015 when armed, masked police carried out a pre-dawn raid and arrested Sharina, then its director, confiscating books the authorities called illegal anti-Russian propaganda.
One of the books, by Dmytro Korchinskiy, a Ukrainian nationalist author banned in Russia, was on a list of "extremist" literature. Library employees said at the time that investigators had planted extremist books to frame them.
The library has since been shut down and all its 52,000 books were transferred to Russia's main foreign language library. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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