Czech who fought with separatists in Ukraine receives 20 year jail sentence

The Municipal Court in Prague has sentenced Jiří Urbánek, a Czech who joined and fought with pro-Russian separatists in the Ukraine, to 20 years in prison for membership in a terrorist group and for carrying out a terrorist attack, the Czech News Agency reported on Tuesday.

According to the prosecution, Urbánek travelled to the Ukraine in 2015 with the intention of supporting pro-Russian separatist forces and took part in their operations at least until January 2018. This included combat against the Ukrainian Army.

Jiří Urbánek was prosecuted as a fugitive and was not in contact with his assigned lawyer who has chosen to wait before exercising the option of appeal.