In Bryansk, the jury acquitted all 13 defendants in the case of smuggling edible poppy

In Bryansk, a jury acquitted 13 defendants in a food poppy smuggling case that had been ongoing since 2010. This was reported by the press service of the court.

The defendants were charged with drug trafficking. “By the verdict of the jury, all the defendants are acquitted on all counts,” the court said.

The court session was adjourned until January 15, 2019. The meeting will discuss the consequences of the jury's verdict.

Bryansk Regional Court

• The case against businessman Sergei Shilov, who supplied poppies to Russia, was first initiated in 2010 after 42 tons of poppies were detained at customs, in which traces of opioids were found. The businessman, his partners and employees were accused of drug trafficking. In the future, the case was repeatedly dismissed and initiated again. Twice the court returned him to the prosecutor's office.
• On the eve of the acquittal of one of the defendants in the case, chemist Olga Zelenina, was announced . She became a defendant because, in response to Shilova's request, she wrote a conclusion that it was impossible to completely clean poppy seeds from traces of opium alkaloids.