The Supreme Military Court of Libya could start considering in April an appeal against the verdict given by a Libyan court to sentence 19 Ukrainians to ten years in prison for aiding the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
"According to our embassy, the Supreme Military Court may start considering the appeal on the case of 19 convicted Ukrainian citizens in the first half of April. This is a preliminary report," Acting Director of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Information Policy Department Yevhen Perebyinis told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.
He said that employees of the Ukrainian Embassy in Libya visited the Ukrainian detainees at the end of March.
"We can confirm that the health of our citizens is normal, and the conditions of their detention are acceptable," he said.
On August 27, 2011, the Libyan rebel Kakaa battalion detained Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian citizens (25 people all in all). The people were charged with having restored military equipment used by the Gaddafi regime "to destroy the people of Libya."
On June 4, 2012, the Tripoli Military Court sentenced 19 Ukrainians to 10 years of imprisonment. One Russian was sentenced to life imprisonment, one more Russian national and three Belarus citizens were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Ukraine filed an appeal against the verdicts in the cases of the Ukrainian citizens.
