Putin pardons Sochi residents Kesyan, Dzhandzhgava convicted of treason
MOSCOW. July 29 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree pardoning Annik Kesyan from Sochi, who was convicted of treason for the text messages she sent to Georgia on the eve of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict.
"Guided by the principles of humanism I hereby decree: to pardon Kesyan, Annik Ovanesovna, born 1959, convicted on August 17, 2015, by Krasnodar Territory court, by relieving her from serving the remainder of the sentence in the form of incarceration," the decree, published on the official legal information portal on Saturday, said.
Another presidential decree pardons Marina Dzhandzhgava, also convicted of treason by a court in Rostov-on-Don in 2014.
The decree will take effect in ten days from official publication.
Kesyan, Dzhandzhgava and another Sochi resident, Inga Tutisani, were convicted of treason for texting to their friends in Georgia about open movement of military hardware in Sochi between 2013 and 2015. Kesyan was sentenced to eight years, Dzhandzhgava 12, and Tutisani six years of imprisonment.
Kesyan's case was revealed by Oksana Sevastiidi, who was also convicted of treason for sending an SMS to Georgia shortly before the conflict began in South Ossetia, and later pardoned. The other two cases were revealed by Team 29 lawyers.
