The Supreme Court of Norway overturned the acquittal of Russian-British businessman and son of the ex-head of Russian Railways Andrei Yakunin in the case of launching a drone over Svalbard. This is reported by the Norwegian publications NRK and the Barents Observer.
Three judges voted in favor of overturning the verdict, two more against. The case will be sent for retrial to the District Court in Tromsø.
The Supreme Court of Norway also ruled that Russian citizens are prohibited from operating any drones in the country. Earlier, a court in Tromso decided that EU sanctions do not apply to small drones — only general aviation and large manned and unmanned vehicles.
Yakunin was detained on October 17 in Hammerfest and arrested for two weeks. According to the lawyer, he «admitted to flying the drone, but did not think it was illegal, because he is a British citizen.» The defense attorney added: «Neither the British nor the Russians consider it a crime to fly recreational drones in Norway.»
The prosecution demanded that Yakunin be sentenced to 120 days in prison, but in December the Tromso District Court acquitted the businessman.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the inclusion of Vladimir Yakunin, the former head of Russian Railways, on the UK sanctions list, Andrei Yakunin, in an interview with the Italian channel La7, condemned the war and said that he “never voted for Putin and his party.”< /p>