A Russian has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug trafficking in Abkhazia
SUKHUM / AQW'A ― The Sukhum City Court sentenced Russian citizen Alexander Medvedev to 15 years in a strict regime colony and fined him 600,000 rubles ($8,000). This was reported on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office of Abkhazia.
He was charged with large-scale illegal trafficking of mephedrone. The total weight of drugs found on him was 259.371 grams.
During the pretrial and trial investigation, Russian citizen Alexander Medvedev fully admitted his guilt.
According to Abkhazian Interior Ministry Medvedev had kept some of the drugs with him, and the rest at his place of residence.
The 26 years old Alexander Medvedev has been taken into custody. He is charged with the illegal acquisition, transportation, storage for the purpose of selling, and large-scale trafficking of drugs. The investigation is ongoing.
Earlier the employees of the department for the control of drug trafficking of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia, together with the State Security Service of the Republic of Abkhazia, detained two citizens of Armenia - Meruzhan Grigoryan, born in 1991, and Artak Manukyan, born in 1993 - after they crossed the customs control zone at the Psou checkpoint.
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During a personal search conducted in the course of official duties, a package containing the psychotropic substance "amphetamine" was found and seized from Grigoryan, as established by the examination conducted at the Forensic Science Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia.
During the inspection of the car in which the young men were travelling as passengers, the police officers found and seized 15 packages containing a light-colored substance and 207 yellow capsules. The substance found in the car during the inspection turned out to be a narcotic drug "Mephedrone" weighing up to 15 grams. The total weight of the contents of the seized "Pregabalin" capsules was over 62 grams.
Damir Kvitsinya: Situation with Illegal Circulation and Non-Medical Consumption of Drugs Remains Challenging
The situation with illegal trafficking and non-medical consumption of narcotics, psychotropic and potent substances remains difficult in Abkhazia. This was stated by the First Deputy Prosecutor General, Damir Kvitsinya, at an extended meeting of the General Prosecutor's Office devoted to summarizing the work of the prosecutor's office in 2022.
In 2022, 255 crimes of this category were registered, which is 17 more than in 2021. There is a positive trend in the detection of crimes related to the illegal trafficking of drugs in the Gudauta district - 43 in 2022, compared to 18 in 2021. In Sukhum, 77 crimes were detected, compared to 66 in 2021. The number of registered crimes of this category decreased in the Tkuarchal district - 3 crimes in 2022 (compared to 10 in 2021) and in the Gal district - 5 crimes in 2022 (compared to 11 in 2021). In 2022, 18 cases of cultivation of drug-containing plants were detected (compared to 30 in 2021).
Those primarily brought to criminal responsibility are drug consumers who are in need of treatment," noted Kvitsinya.