A Russian military court has sentenced 49-year-old IT specialist Yuri Belenkiy to 13 years in prison following accusations of financing Ukrainian fundraising campaigns. The 2nd Western District Military Court ruled that Belenkiy must spend the first three years in prison, followed by 10 years in a strict-regime penal colony, alongside a fine of 500,000 rubles.

According to state media reports, the prosecution claimed that Belenkiy made multiple cryptocurrency transfers worth over 120,000 rubles between August 2022 and March 2024 to support Ukrainian armed forces. Russian law enforcement documents allegedly indicate that cryptocurrency exchange Binance provided investigators with Belenkiy's transaction history, which served as critical evidence in securing the conviction.

Defense lawyers and legal experts have questioned the validity and origin of the data, noting that Binance officially withdrew from the Russian market and was under no legal obligation to comply with Moscow's requests. Furthermore, specialists suggested that sharing the data of a resident with a European Union permit might have violated European data protection laws. When approached for comment, Binance declined to discuss confidential law enforcement inquiries.

Rights groups tracking politically motivated prosecutions in Russia report a rising trend of criminal cases linked to financial donations made to Ukrainian organizations as early as 2022. Authorities continue to utilize advanced digital tracking methods to monitor cryptocurrency transactions and bank transfers, leading to severe prison sentences for individuals involved in cross-border donations.

Source: www.aljazeera.com