A court in Sri Lanka arrested two Russian citizens due to the collection of beetles, the third person involved in the case, zoologist Alexander Ignetenko, was hospitalized with an ulcer.
According to lawyer Georgy Sukhov, a zoologist from Rostov-on-Don is in the hospital, while two others were taken into custody in court and are in prison.
“The accusation is unlawful and unreasonable, sufficient evidence of involvement in any crimes of our citizens has not been collected, especially evidence of guilt,” said the defender.
According to him, Ignatenko and his companions were initially accused of destroying 277 beetles, although the zoologist said that they did not catch and did not kill the beetles, but merely collected already dead individuals shot down by cars along the road. Then they took pictures of them and described them.
The lawyer emphasized that the evidence in the case was collected with a gross violation of the law, and searches were conducted without a lawyer, translators and witnesses, as well as without any protocols. All case materials exist only in Sinhala.
After the court hearing on Thursday, Ignatenko’s companions were immediately sent to a prison cell, and the zoologist himself is in a regular room with 50 other patients in the hospital.
“For each beetle they ask for several thousand rupees, which generally goes to three – more than 2 million rubles. They are told – agree to all the charges, pay a fine, otherwise a prison, ”added the defender.
As Ignatenko wrote on Facebook in May, he was released on bail due to a coronavirus. He noted that he needs to pay a fine of 3 million rubles, or he faces up to 40 years in prison.
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