Moscow - A Russian court in Crimea on Friday jailed a local activist for four years for throwing a rock at police during pro-Western protests in Kiev last year.
Dmitry Sotnikov, a lawyer for the jailed man, told AFP that the case was fabricated and that his client was beaten and starved in the jail in Simferopol after being detained in February.
Prosecutors said Alexander Kostenko, a resident of Crimea, was found guilty of "inflicting physical harm" on a riot police officer during the protests despite arguments from his lawyers that the court on the Russian-annexed peninsula had no jurisdiction to try events that allegedly happened in Ukraine.
A statement on the Crimea prosecutor website said former police officer Kostenko was also found guilty of later storing firearms in his home.
The court sentenced him to four years and two months in a penal colony.
AFP
