Alexej Fadejev Police officers bring Alexej Fadejev to a meeting of the Municipal Court in Prague on July 27, 2020. According to the indictment, he was actively involved in fighting in the ranks of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. He faces 12 to 20 years in prison for the terrorist attack.
Brno – The Constitutional Court (ÚS) rejected the complaint of Alexej Fadejev, who is serving a sentence of 21 years in prison for participating in the fighting in Ukraine. Fadeyev fought on the side of pro-Russian separatists in Donbass. After his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court last year, the constitutional complaint remained the last extraordinary remedy. The judges considered it to be clearly unfounded, ČTK found out from the resolution in the internet database.
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“The complainant's objections are only blunt, general and vaguely worded,” reads the resolution.
The Municipal Court in Prague initially sentenced Fadejev to 4.5 years in prison for participating in an organized crime group. However, according to the High Court, he committed a terrorist attack as a member of an organized criminal group. The appeals panel therefore significantly tightened the verdict.
The Supreme Court upheld the decision, concluding that the rebel forces could not be considered the regular army. They waged a violent struggle against the constitutional establishment and political structure of Ukraine as a democratic legal state.
Fadejev is a Belarusian who lived in Prague for a long time. He admitted that he participated in auxiliary activities, denied direct involvement in the fighting. According to the High Court, however, he took part in combat actions. Fadejev used similar arguments in the constitutional complaint, criticizing, for example, the expert opinion of the Ministry of Defense and the Army of the Czech Republic, but was unsuccessful.
The indictment claimed that the man traveled to the country repeatedly, from October 2014 to May 2016. He left armed and participated in various military tasks in the ranks of the so-called Republican Guard of the Donetsk People's Republic. Belarus claimed that the videos it posted on its Facebook profile, showing men firing weapons, were only made at a training ground.
The conflict in Ukraine erupted in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea. Pro-Russian separatists have taken over parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, keeping them out of the direct control of the Ukrainian government. Last February, the Russian army invaded Ukraine, and separatist units are fighting alongside it.
Czech courts dealt with several cases connected to the fighting in Ukraine. Fugitive Martin Kantor should serve 20 years, Lukáš Nováček six years. The High Court in Prague reduced Martin Sukup's sentence from 21 years to four years, but the verdict will probably still be reviewed by the Supreme Court. The twenty-year sentence for Alojz Polák has not yet been final.
