The Khimki City Court of the Moscow Region sentenced US citizen Andre Khachaturian to 8 years in a penal colony, who was detained in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport with a combat pistol and cartridges for it. It is reported by TASS.
“The court ruled to find Khachaturian guilty of smuggling and to sentence him to 8 years of imprisonment in a penal colony,” the judge announced the decision. Khachaturian was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 226.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Smuggling of weapons and ammunition”) and under Part 1 of Art. 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal acquisition, transfer, storage, transportation, transfer or carrying of explosives”).
Khachaturyan was detained on December 26, 2021 at Sheremetyevo when he was flying on an Aeroflot flight from the United States via Moscow to Yerevan. Law enforcement officers seized a Glock-17 pistol and ammunition from him.
During the meeting, the defense asked the court to acquit Khachaturian under Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for lack of corpus delicti. According to the defense, the case with the gun was accepted by the airline as baggage, Khachaturian was sure that he did not violate any laws, the gun was not hidden on purpose and was in the baggage with other things. Lawyer Igor Bushmanov said that his client repented that he had not properly executed the documents for the transport of weapons, and asked the court to take this into account.
The defense considers the court’s verdict unnecessarily harsh and will appeal against it.
Source: Rosbalt
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