The Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow has sentenced Ukrainian Andrei Pasechnik to three years in a strict regime colony in connection with the purchase of a Mini A8 GPS tracker. This is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the text of the verdict.
According to the case card on the website of the court, Pasechnik was found guilty of illegal circulation of special technical means designed to secretly obtain information (Article 138.1 of the Criminal Code).
As stated in the decision, the man bought a tracker with an audio recording function. He claimed that with the help of the device he decided to secure the car, which was not registered in Russia, and to find it in case of theft. In March, Pasechnik was stopped by the traffic police and found the Mini A8. They also reported that the Ukrainian violates immigration laws.
The verdict says that the man bought a GPS tracker “for the purpose of subsequent use for secretly obtaining information”, in addition, at the time of purchasing the device, he “realized the social danger of his actions.” According to Pasechnik's lawyer Maxim Pashkov, his client bought the Mini A8 to protect his own property and did not try to disguise the device.
Also, the Ukrainian, according to the lawyer, could not organize surveillance of anyone, as he personally used the car, and this was confirmed by Pasechnik's colleagues.
“There is no doubt that it was a household purchase, since he alone used this car, moreover, from the point of view of Russian law, he could not transfer the right to drive it to someone else, the car was temporarily imported into Russia from another country,” — Pashkov said in a conversation with RIA Novosti.
The FSB developed a definition for the term «special technical equipment» in the summer of 2018 after Kurgan farmer Yevgeny Vasilyev complained to President Vladimir Putin that a criminal case had been opened against him because of a cow collar with a GPS tracker.< /p>
In July 2019, the State Duma adopted amendments to Article 138.1 of the Criminal Code, which prohibit punishment for “household tools that are in free circulation of the system and have the functions of audio recording, video recording, photographic fixation and (or) geolocation, with openly located on them controls».
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