On this picture taken from video launched by Khamovnichesky District Courtroom press service on July 18, U.S. citizen Michael Travis Leake stands in a cage in a Moscow courtroom earlier than being convicted of drug trafficking expenses and sentenced to 13 years in jail.
AP/Khamovnichesky District Courtroom press service
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AP/Khamovnichesky District Courtroom press service
A Russian court docket has sentenced the U.S. citizen Michael Travis Leake to 13 years in jail on drug expenses, in response to worldwide media studies.
Moscow’s Khamovnitchesky Courtroom discovered the rock musician and former paratrooper responsible and ordered him to serve the sentence in a maximum-security jail colony, The Moscow Instances reported final week.
Leake was arrested in June of final 12 months on suspicion of promoting the drug mephedrone, an offense that might have landed him a 20-year jail time period.
Russia’s Interfax information company mentioned on the time that Leake was accused of organizing a drug trafficking enterprise “involving young people.”
Russian court docket officers have recognized Leake as a former paratrooper with the U.S. navy. Leake has additionally performed in a number of Russian rock bands, together with the Moscow-based group he fronted, Lovi Noch.
The U.S. State Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for a remark in regards to the sentencing.
In a video of Leake that circulated after his arrest final 12 months, he mentioned he wasn’t admitting any guilt and didn’t know what he was being accused of.
Leake’s mom, Glenda Garcia, instructed CNN final 12 months that she was troubled by her son’s state of affairs. “Of course, I am worried. Of course, I am concerned, ” Garcia mentioned. “He’s in prison in a foreign country, that is a concern.”
Additionally final week, a Russian court docket sentenced Wall Avenue Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in jail on espionage expenses, which he denies.
Wall Avenue Journal executives have referred to as Gershkovich’s conviction a sham, and President Biden says the U.S. is pushing for the American reporter’s launch.
