The Khmelnytskyi City District Court has handed down a sentence against a Belarusian citizen, a native of the village of Strielna in the Ivanava district of the Brest region. The court found him guilty under Parts 2 and 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine of illegal possession, with intent to sell, of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues in particularly large quantities and sentenced him to nine years in prison with confiscation of all property except his home.
As Nasha Niva reports, the man is Yury Harupa (call sign “Khmel”), who previously served in the Kalinouski Regiment and the 2nd International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The sentence is to run from the date of his detention, Jan. 23, 2024. Until the sentence enters into force, the preventive measure remains detention.
According to the case materials, the Ukrainian Armed Forces sergeant set up a scheme to distribute illegal substances in Khmelnytskyi. Through Telegram, he ordered batches of drugs, paid for them with cryptocurrency, collected parcels and placed “stash” packages in wooded areas of the city. He saved the coordinates and photos of the hiding places on his phone for subsequent transfer to buyers.
Harupa was detained on Jan. 23, 2024, near a Nova Poshta parcel locker with a package containing 127.18 grams of the psychotropic substance PVP (alpha-PVP). Police also found cannabis and mephedrone/4-MMC in the hiding places.
Yury Harupa had been in Ukraine since 2014 and fought as part of the Right Sector and a Belarusian company attached to the Azov Battalion. In March 2022, he suffered serious injuries. From February 2023, he served under contract in the 2nd International Legion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces as commander of a mortar platoon. The Kalinouski Regiment reported that he left the unit in December 2022. The court ruling states that Harupa is married and supports a minor daughter.
