ROSTOV-ON-DON – The public prosecutor requested the North Caucasus District Military Court to sentence Ukrainian citizen Oleksiy Syzonovych charged with preparing terrorist attacks in Russia and Ukraine to 12 years of imprisonment in a maximum security penal colony and a fine of 250,000 rubles, an Interfax correspondent reported.
Syzonovych’s defense, for its part, asked the court to mitigate the defendant’s sentence as much as possible.
“I ask the court to take into account that my client cooperated with investigators and participated in identifications. I also ask to take into account his age (61 years old) and health condition,” Syzonovych’s lawyer Yevgeniya Vichkanova said.
The court will render the sentence on July 31.
As reported, Syzonovych confirmed at the court earlier that he admitted his guilt. “I fully confirm the testimony given to investigators and admit my guilt. I repent all what I have done. Sincerely,” he said at a hearing in the court.
Investigators believe that in April 2014, Syzonovych and unknown individual set up an organized group in Kyiv, agreeing to commit terrorist attacks in Russia and Ukraine. The person investigators had been unable to identify ran the group, while the defendant collected information about transport infrastructure facilities and prepared various explosive devices due to possessing special skills in explosion engineering.
According to investigators, in late May 2016, Syzonovych had been given an order to go to the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Rostov region, to survey and take pictures of the local railroad station, as well as determine the place to plant explosive devices. A terrorist attack at the railroad station was planned for September 2016.
Law enforcement officials detained the defendant. He has been held in custody since September 28, 2016.
Syzonovych is charged under articles ‘preparing a terrorist attack,’ ‘illegal purchase, handover, sales, storage, transport or possession of explosive substance or explosive devices,’ and ‘illegal crossing of the Russian state border’ of the Russian Criminal Code.
