From 10 to 13.5 years for the sale of spice. The verdict in the Vitebsk "Abracadabra" case has been upheld

Vitebsk has seen the conclusion of the case involving the country's largest online store that sold spice. The Judicial Board for Criminal Cases of the Regional Court did not heed the cassation appeal of the convicted and upheld the previously issued sentence.

Three young people, including two minors at the time of the crime, have been sentenced to 10-13.5 years of imprisonment.

The trial lasted more than two months, the case involved over a dozen volumes and more than 80 witnesses. It has been proven that two young men and a 17-year-old girl had long been operating under the guise of an online store popular among Vitebsk youth, named "Abracadabra." As a result of this "business," which was far from child's play in scale, hundreds of young people became regular customers of the drug dealers.

The spice sellers spent their money in the city's entertainment venues and lived lavishly. Operatives struggled for a long time to track down the virtual criminals; a carefully planned operation was carried out for their apprehension. Searches and detentions of both sellers and consumers were conducted simultaneously at about a dozen addresses. The girl who was responsible for packaging the drugs and communicating with clients via Skype attempted to throw a package of psychotropic substances out the window through a small opening during the search.

In court, the accused did not admit guilt and maintained until the very end that they had no connection to "Abracadabra." This was despite the fact that correspondence with buyers, consisting of 65,000 messages and indicating at least a thousand drop-off locations, was seized from them. By the most conservative estimates, the online store sold up to a kilogram of spice per week.

The results are summarized by the Chairman of the Pervomaisky District Court of Vitebsk, Andrey Andrushenko:

– The trial in the "Abracadabra" case was complex and lengthy. All materials were thoroughly examined in an open session, the actions of each individual were assessed, the arguments of the lawyers were heard, and several dozen witnesses were interrogated.

It should be noted that this was not easy – yesterday's buyers of "Abrakadabra" had to be found with the help of police officers. Some of them are already serving sentences for spice. Many suffer from drug addiction, and even relatives are unaware of their whereabouts. And only thanks to the clear interaction with the employees of the drug control department of the regional Internal Affairs Directorate, as well as the Investigative Committee, they were brought to court to testify.

Today I can say: despite the severity of the crime, the defendants in the high-profile criminal case "Abrakadabra" were lucky. If their online store had existed for a few more months – the sentences could have been significantly longer in accordance with the requirements of Decree No. 6, which came into force from the new year.

Of course, this sentence is also quite strict for young people who have just reached the age of majority. But if the accused had actively cooperated with the investigation, named the supply channels of spice and all their accomplices, the court could have significantly mitigated their punishment.

Elena Begunova, SB Belarus Today