SOCHI. Jan 31 (Interfax) - A Greek court has handed down a sentence to two residents of Sochi who were charged with illegal transportation of migrants, the men's lawyer Valeria Voitsekhovskaya told Interfax.
Anton Karramov, 29, and Platon Davydov, 37, received 395 years in prison each, Voitsekhovskaya said.
"Fourteen Russian sailors of sailing yachts were detained by the Greek sea police while transporting people who turned out to be migrants from Turkey to Italy last year. Karramov and Davydov were the first to be convicted. A Greek court sentenced them to 395 years in prison," she said.
The transportation of one illegal migrant is punishable by seven years in prison under the Greek legislation, Voitsekhovskaya said.
In the meantime, the defense lawyers believe that the Russian sailors were victims of fraud.
Voitsekhovskaya said that all 14 Russians went to Turkey after seeing job offers from unidentified individuals, which are still available on social networking sites. In particular, job applicants are offered the job of sailor on tourist sailing yachts.
The defense lawyers initiated the opening of a fraud case against unidentified individuals and demands that the sailors be recognized as aggrieved parties. Their relatives have sent statements seeking the protection of Russian citizens to the Russian Federal Security Service and the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. Regional prosecutors are now conducting a probe, Voitsekhovskaya said.
"We are also working with Greek lawyers to give the sailors the status of victims, which provides criminal immunity and release from prison," she said.
The lawyers are also preparing to file an appeal against the decision on the Sochi sailors.
Volunteer Alyona Basova told the agency the employers had offered the sailors a monthly wage of 100,000 rubles.
"The employer paid for the sailors' trip to Turkey, their food, and their living expenses. However, the Russians did not know that they would be illegally transporting migrants on yachts. They were certain that it would be tourists," Basova said.
The sailors' relatives have written to Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, Basova said.
Ulyana Davydova, the wife of the convicted Davydov, said the sailors' phones had been taken from them and they are not contactable.
"The interpreter who was present at the questioning said the arrested sailors were in prison in Athens. The Greek state defense attorney cannot help them because the Russians have no money," Davydova said.
The defense lawyers need to be paid 3,000 euros for each sailor and state duty of 1,800 euros, she said.
Karramov's mother Yulia Karramova told the agency her son had gone to work abroad to transport tourists on sailing yachts from Turkey to Italy in summer 2019.
"My son said the ad had been published by the company Yug on the Avito website. No one doubted the legality of the job," Karramova said.