Russian-American Ksenia Karelin was sentenced by a Russian court on Thursday to 12 years in a penal colony after plead guilty She was arrested earlier this year while traveling to Russia for donating $51 to a U.S. aid group helping war-torn Ukrainians, according to Russian state media.
Russia accused Karelina of collecting money used to buy supplies for the Ukrainian army.
Karelin was arrested in January, when her boyfriend offered her a plane ticket to return to see her parents and younger sister in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg, according to her former mother-in-law, Eleonora Srebroski.
She was initially detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service on charges of “petty hooliganism,” but the charge was later upgraded to treason.
The court said Thursday that the sentence would take effect in 15 days “unless the parties appeal.”
Karelina’s lawyer called the prosecutor’s previous request for a 15-year sentence “harsh” and said he would “take all necessary legal steps” to try to include his client in a future prisoner exchange. He added that Karelina had fully cooperated with the investigation.
“After the verdict, we will of course work in this direction,” Karelina’s lawyer said. “This is the client’s wish, which is why I will take all necessary legal measures to make it happen.”
Karelina’s trial was overseen by the same judge who sentenced Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison. Gershkovich was released on a prisoner exchange earlier this month.
