Court Action Over “Streshinsky and Co” Resumes in Italy :: Charter'97 :: News

On Monday the court of Turin resumed court hearings on the so-called case of “Streshunsky and Co”. The state prosecutors accuse the group of citizens from Ukraine, Russia, Greece, Great Britain and Croatia in conspiring a criminal plot for selling arms to Yugoslavia contrary to the UN sanctions in 1992-94. According to the case files, in 1992-94 the Global Technologies International company, headed by Streshinsky, supplied eight consignments of ammunition from Ukraine and Belarus to Yugoslavia opposite to the UN arms embargo. Meantime, the state export organizations of Belarus and Ukraine were presented phony certificates of the final user.

First secretary of the Italian embassy in Ukraine Augustino Pinna confirmed to the “Interfax-Ukraina” news agency the start of the court deliberations on the matter.
As previously reported, on March 5, 2002 the former Ukrainian national Dmitry Streshinsky was sentenced by the Italian court to 1 year and 11 months of the conditional imprisonment.
In course of the investigation Streshinsky, in order to soften personal sentence signed a so-called deal with the justice and gave testimony against top Ukrainian officials and his former business companions in Moscow. All of them, however, categorically refute accusations, formulated on the basis of his data.
In late 2002 in Belgium they sentenced to 40 months of jail international arms smuggler Geza Mezosi, who, according to the investigators, had been preparing phony certificates for the GTI company.