A court in the Moscow region sentenced an American who was in transit to Yerevan via Moscow with a pistol in his luggage to 8 years in prison.

The Khimki City Court of the Moscow Region sentenced 37-year-old American Andre Khachaturyan, who was detained at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport in 2021, to eight years in prison. The press service of the court told RIA Novosti about this.

According to the case file, Khachaturian was flying from the United States to Armenia and was detained in the transit zone. combat pistol They found a Glok-17 and ammunition on him. The weapon was in the luggage in a case that was locked with a key.

Khachaturyan was found guilty in the case of weapons smuggling (Article 226.1 of the Criminal Code). He will serve his sentence in a general regime colony. The US citizen has been in pre-trial detention since December 2021.

According to Khachaturian’s defense, he was sure that he was not breaking the law: the gun was not hidden and was in luggage with other things. Lawyer Igor Bushmanov said that his client partially admitted guilt. The prosecution previously asked to acquit the American on charges of illegal transportation of explosives (Article 222 of the Criminal Code).

As clarifies BFM , Khachaturian, who worked in a construction company, was flying from Los Angeles to Yerevan to meet the relatives of his future wife. His case was heard by Judge Anna Sotnikova, who sentenced basketball player Britney Greiner to eight years in prison for drug smuggling charges stemming from hashish oil vape cartridges.