A Russian-controlled court in the illegally annexed Crimea has handed down a verdict in the case of resident local resident Dilyaver Gafarov, who is a Crimean Tatar.
He was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of being part of a volunteer battalion in mainland Ukraine, that's according to RFE/RL journalist Anton Naumliuk.
The judge ruled that Gafarov had been part of what Russia calls an "illegal armed formation".
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According to investigators, in 2016-2018 he was allegedly a member of Noman Chelebidzhikhan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion (now called Asker NGO), and took part in the "economic blockade" of Crimea.
Gafarov was detained in Crimea on October 30, 2018.
During trial he pleaded not guilty in court and said that Lenur Isliamov, owner of ATR TV channel where the man was employed as a hairdresser, offered him to become a member of the battalion, but Gafarov refused.
