A court in Prague has acquitted a Russian citizen who was accused of taking part in Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014.
The Prague City Court ruled on October 20 that there wasn't enough evidence to prove Aleksandr Franchetti's involvement in organizing a criminal group and the illegal incarceration of 11 pro-Ukrainian residents of Crimea during the annexation of the peninsula.
Franchetti remains in custody because the court's ruling was appealed by prosecutors.
Franchetti was arrested in September last year at Ukraine's request. Kyiv accuses him of being an active participant in the events in Crimea in 2014 by joining paramilitary formations called North Wind and Crimea's Self-Defense. The two groups helped seize power lines and gas pipelines during the annexation.
Czech media reports said earlier that Franchetti was granted permanent residence in the Czech Republic in 2000 and has worked in the country as a fitness trainer.
Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 following the overthrow of Kremlin-leaning President Viktor Yanukovych a month earlier. Moscow sought to legitimize its annexation with a staged referendum that was dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries.
