The 1st Western District Military Court in St. Petersburg sentenced Petr Romanyuk, a resident of Karelia, to 15 years in prison, accused in the case of setting fire to a military enlistment office, reported the project From Karelia with freedom.
He must spend the first four years of his sentence in prison, the remaining term in a high-security colony. The prosecution requested 18 years of imprisonment. At the same time, the accused did not plead guilty, and the defense repeatedly stated that there was not a single piece of evidence in the case that Romanyuk committed the arson.
The military enlistment office in the Karelian town of Suoyarvi was set on fire in May 2024. At night, an unknown person threw two Molotov cocktails into the building's window and fled. The press service of the courts of Karelia reported that the facade, window frame, and metal grille of the military enlistment office were scorched.
The arrest of the 36-year-old suspect in the arson became known a few days later. Initially, a case was opened against him for damaging someone else's property, but later it was reclassified to the article on "terrorism."
Romanyuk did not plead guilty. Moreover, at one of the court sessions, in which the man and his lawyers participated via video link from Petrozavodsk, the conclusion of a specialist who studied the arson recording from the surveillance camera was announced. The expert indicated that the person's face is captured in a small scale, and it is impossible to determine their gender and age from the video.
Romanyuk's lawyers repeatedly stated that there is not a single piece of evidence in the case pointing to the man's involvement in the arson; most likely, Romanyuk is being persecuted because he is a native of Ukraine.
Photo: From Karelia with freedom