The Nevelsky District Court in Russia’s Pskov region sentenced two Belarusian citizens and a Tajik national to prison for smuggling more than 5.5 tonnes of Atlantic salmon from Belarus into Russia. According to the press service of the Pskov Region Courts, the three defendants received prison terms ranging from three to five years in a general-regime penal colony and fines of between 200,000 and 400,000 Russian rubles. The press service did not specify the individual sentences or fines.
The court established that the defendants, acting in prior collusion, purchased 5,523.96 kilograms of Atlantic salmon in Belarus without documents confirming its origin. The fish was brought into Russia while bypassing designated customs control and clearance points, then delivered to the Kalininskaya vegetable depot in St. Petersburg for sale.
All three defendants fully admitted their guilt and expressed remorse. The court found them guilty of large-scale smuggling of strategically important resources by a group acting in prior collusion (Article 226.1, Part 2, Paragraph “c” of the Russian Criminal Code). The vehicle used to transport the fish was confiscated in favor of the state.
At the time of publication, the court ruling had not yet entered into force.