Alexander Ignatenko
Three Russians who collected beetles in Sri Lanka were charged with 301 counts. RIA Novosti reports this with reference to their lawyer Georgy Sukhov.
He explained that each individual insect was charged with trying to take them abroad, although Russian citizens were not going to take the beetles out of the country.
“This is strange, because the guys were detained not at the airport or on the way there, but in the national park. They had no tickets on hand, ”said the lawyer. Sukhov also said that all the materials of the case were provided to the defense in Sinhalese, and they would have to be translated to work with them.
Among those detained in May this year is an employee of the Rostov zoo, zoologist Alexander Ignatenko. In July, he complained that the Russian embassy was not helping him and two other Russians. He denies his guilt in violating the laws and insists that this situation is a way of the Ceylon authorities to extort money from foreigners: he faces a fine of up to three million rubles or 40 years in prison.
