MOSCOW, October 25 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia on Thursday upheld an 8-year prison sentence for Yevgeny Panov convicted of plotting sabotage Crimea, attorney Olga Dinze told RAPSI.

The court therefore dismissed appeals filed both by prosecutors, who asked to toughen Panov’s term by 2.5 years, and defense. 

Panov was convicted and sentenced in July. In February, another defendant in the case Andrey Zakhtey received 6.5 years in prison and was fined 220,000 rubles ($3,300 at the current exchange rate).

In August 2016, Russia’s Federal Security Service reported prevention of terror attacks in Crimea prepared by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s General Directorate of Intelligence against critical infrastructure components of the peninsula.

According to a republic’s law enforcement source, seven suspects were arrested. Panov, an officer of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate, is believed to be one of the organizers of the crime. Zakhtey reportedly was arrested on suspicion of providing activities of the raiding force.