OREANDA-NEWS. The first appellate court of general jurisdiction recognized as legal the 12-year sentence of the former professional football player from Ukraine Vasily Vasilenko, who was accused of espionage in Russia. Press secretary of the court Lyubov Budanova told RIA Novosti about it.

She clarified that the verdict was left unchanged, the appeal was not satisfied.

In December, the Moscow City Court sentenced Vasilenko to 12 years in a strict regime colony. The hearings in the case were held in a closed mode from the public due to the secrecy of the information included in the criminal case. During the debate of the sides, which took place at the end of November, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence Vasilenko to 16 years term of prisonment.

The FSB did not reveal the essence of the accusation. According to a RIA Novosti source, Vasilenko was detained in Moscow when he wanted to buy some decommissioned military equipment from the Russian Federation on the request of a Ukrainian company which is closely connected with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. The source noted that it is about some large-sized equipment invented in the USSR in the 1960s, which does not have firepower. The former footballer didn't recognize himself as guilty.

Vasilenko was arrested in October 2019 on charges of attempted smuggling of dangerous substances, weapons or cultural property; later, the arrest of the Ukrainian was extended in the case of espionage, which provides for up to 20 years in prison.