Odesa – Moldovan journalist Semion Nikulin has been convicted to a year in prison by Prymorsky district court of Odesa, but has been set free.
As a lawyer of Nikulin Ivan Ustenko said, now his client is free, since he was detained on April 13, 2012 and has in fact served his sentence. The lawyer also said that the court didn’t approve any other sanctions for the defendant, for example a ban on entry the country. Nikulin is not going to dispute the decision of the court.
“Under possible sanction from 8 to 15 years [imprisonment] both sides were satisfied with the given verdict,” the lawyer said.
As reported, Nikulin was detained in Odesa on April 13 on suspicion of espionage and was placed in the Ukrainian Security Service detention facility in Kyiv.
Kommersant-Ukraine reported, citing sources in the Moldovan Information and Security Service, that Nikulin was detained on the basis of Article 114 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code for “the transfer or collection of information for the purpose of supplying information constituting a state secret to a foreign state, a foreign organization, or their representatives,” a crime punishable by eight to 15 years in prison. The Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration has confirmed the information on Nikulin’s detention (the ministry declined to give official comments).
A source in the Moldovan Information and Security Service told the paper the Ukrainian Security Service has asked the special service to provide information on the Nikulin case. The Information and Security Service provided the man’s lawyers and the Ukrainian authorities with complete information on him and expressed doubts about his involvement in espionage.
“We explained that Semion Nikulin as a professional journalist and an employee of the press center of the United Control Commission understood very well what is allowed and what is not, and was unlikely to engage in espionage,” the source said.
At the time of his detention, Nikulin, 38, worked for the press center of the United Control Commission (a three-party body directing the peacekeeping operation in Transdniestria). He graduated from the Odesa Ground Forces Institute in 1996 and then served in the Moldovan National Army. In 2003, Nikulin worked as a journalist for the state-run information agency Moldpres and specialized on Transdniestrian issues. In 2004-2007, he was an observer with the newspaper Nezavisimaya Moldova. His Facebook account states that he has been director of the Chisinau-registered firm SCOF Consulting R.A. since 2001.
