Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina has pleaded guilty to treason charges after she was arrested for donating money to a charity supporting Ukraine.
Russian prosecutors are seeking a 15-year sentence after the security services accused Ms Karelina of collecting money that was used to purchase tactical supplies for the Ukrainian army.
She was detained by authorities in Yekaterinburg, about 1,600km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow after a family visit in February.
The sentence comes one week after Russia and the West carried out the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War, where 24 people jailed in seven different countries were exchanged.
Ms Karelina’s lawyer said the prosecutors’ request for a 15-year sentence in a penal colony was too severe as the defendant had cooperated with the investigation.
Mikhail Mushailov also said it was “impossible” for Ms Karelina to have been included in the recent prisoner exchange, because an exchange can only happen once the court verdict comes into force.
“I like criminals if the victim is someone I don’t like!”
(Almost) Nobody here likes autocrats, my friend. But I guess everyone here has a problem with people who violate the law. Now I can see that the laws in Russia are not what you, personally, think is right. FWIW, each country has laws which other countries don’t agree with.
But I guess everyone here has a problem with people who violate the law.
That’s stupid. You can use this argument to justify basically everything, including Nazi Germany.
That’s a horrible take. Most people don’t care about whether things are legal, they care about whether things are morally right.
I’ll note that I don’t have a legal background, so the following is largely intuition.
Law is usually supposed to codify moral behavior. It’s a way to help different people talk about right/wrong and help them share moral concepts. So far, so good. However, not only does law fall short in terms of codifying moral behavior quite frequently, we also start from our morals and cross-check whether law aligns with those.
Most people don’t care about whether things are legal, they care about whether things are morally right.
That sounds right at first, but you fail to realise that morality is not an objectively measurable unit. Whose morality should apply to everyone? Yours? Mine? The Russian ones? Why?
(Almost) Nobody here likes autocrats, my friend.
Yet I have the feeling I found one of the few that does.
I guess everyone here has a problem with people who violate the law. Now I can see that the laws in Russia are not what you, personally, think is right. FWIW, each country has laws which other countries don’t agree with.
Alrighty, let’s put that to the test: do you want Snowden and Assange locked up behind bars?
e: “Runterwählen ist kein Gegenargument”, don’t forget that… ;)
Yet I have the feeling I found one of the few that does.
I have the feeling that you misjudge (at least) one person here.
do you want Snowden and Assange locked up behind bars?
Thank you for confirming what I was getting at: Assange was held in accordance with the law, although I personally don’t think journalism should be penalised. Snowden hasn’t had a trial yet, so I can’t make a qualified comment on that.
I understand that the Russian laws don’t suit you. I don’t like the US laws either. But they are still the laws in force.
e: “Runterwählen ist kein Gegenargument”, don’t forget that… ;)
I can assure you that I not only take this sentence to heart, but - in view of the reactions to my comments here - find it absolutely apt once again.
