US-Russian dual national jailed for 12 years on treason charges for $52 donation to Ukraine

YEKATERINBURG, Russia (AP) — U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana was convicted Thursday of treason in a Russian court and sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine.

Khavana, identified by Russian authorities by her maiden name of Ksenia Karelina, was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February and pleaded guilty in a closed trial last week, news reports said.

Khavana, a 33-year-old former ballet dancer, reportedly obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles. She had returned to Russia to visit her family.

She reportedly had her phone confiscated after arriving in Yekaterinburg in January and police found evidence on the phone of the donation. Soon before her planned departure, she was jailed for 15 days on petty hooliganism charges and then charged with treason.

Russia’s Federal Security Service said she “proactively collected money in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organizations, which was subsequently used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons, and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The rights group The First Department said the charges stem from a $51.80 donation to a U.S. charity. The trial took place in Yekaterinburg, about 880 miles (1,420 kilometers) east of Moscow.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that the conviction and sentencing of Khavana was “nothing less than vindictive cruelty.” He said U.S. officials were working to gain consular access to Khavana.

“We’re talking about 50 bucks,” Kirby added. “To call that treason is absolutely ludicrous”

Khavana's attorney, Mikhail Mushailov, said he planned to appeal the verdict.

“She admitted guilt in part in transferring the funds, but did not admit her intent to transfer the funds to the organizations where they were most likely received," he said.

"She did not assume that the funds she transferred would be used for anti-Russian actions,” he said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has sharply cracked down on dissent and has passed laws that criminalize criticism of the operation in Ukraine and remarks considered to discredit the Russian military. Concern has risen since then that Russia is targeting U.S. nationals for arrest.

In a separate development on Thursday, Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court ordered a U.S. citizen identified as Joseph Tater to be held in custody for two months pending a probe on charges of attacking a police officer. A day before, the same court sentenced Tater to 15-day administrative arrest on “petty hooliganism” charges.

Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA-Novosti said that the American became abusive after being asked to show his documents at an upscale hotel on Monday evening. They claimed that the U.S. citizen "behaved aggressively” and used profanities when the hotel refused to accommodate him, citing a lack of required documents. The reports said that the man attacked a police officer when he was taken to a police precinct.

Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said they were aware of the reports, but wouldn’t make further comments because of privacy restrictions.

On Aug. 1, Russia and the West held the largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War. Included in the swap was Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and American corporate security executive Paul Whelan, both of whom were convicted of espionage charges that they vehemently denied, and U.S.-Russian dual national Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe journalist sentenced to 6 1/2 years for spreading “false information” about the Russian military.

Russia also released several prominent opposition figures who were imprisoned for criticizing the military operation in Ukraine.

In this photo released by Meshchansky District Court press service on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, U.S. citizen Joseph Tater stands in a courtroom facing criminal assault charges after allegedly attacking a police officer in a Moscow hotel. Moscow's Meshchansky District Court has just found him guilty of minor disorderly conduct and ordered him to spend 15 days in custody. (Meshchansky District Court Press Service via AP)

Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. A Russian court on Thursday sentenced U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana to 12 years in prison on a treason conviction for allegedly raising money for the Ukrainian military. (AP Photo)

Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. A Russian court on Thursday sentenced U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana to 12 years in prison on a treason conviction for allegedly raising money for the Ukrainian military. (AP Photo)

Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana speaks with her lawyer standing in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. A Russian court on Thursday sentenced U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana to 12 years in prison on a treason conviction for allegedly raising money for the Ukrainian military. (AP Photo)

FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known by the last name of Khavana, sits in a defendant's cage in a court in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. A Russian court on Thursday sentenced U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana to 12 years in prison on a treason conviction for allegedly raising money for the Ukrainian military. (AP Photo)

GENEVA (AP) — Independent U.N. human rights experts said in a new report Tuesday that their findings show Venezuela's government has intensified the use of “harshest and most violent" tools of repression following the disputed July presidential election.

The official results of the July 28 vote have been widely criticized as undemocratic, opaque and aimed to maintain President Nicolás Maduro in power.

In its report, the fact-finding mission on Venezuela, commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, denounced rights violations including arbitrary detentions, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence by the country's security forces that “taken as a whole, constitute the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds.”

“During the period covered by this report, and especially after the presidential election of July 28, 2024, the state reactivated and intensified the harshest and most violent mechanisms of its repressive apparatus,” said the experts in the report, which covered a one-year period through Aug. 31.

The findings echo concerns from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Human Rights Watch, and others about Venezuela and its democracy, including repression before and after the highly anticipated vote and the subsequent flight into exile of Venezuela's opposition leader Edmundo González.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, said he won with 52% of the vote. But opposition supporters collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation's electronic voting machines, and said that indicated González had won the election — with twice as many votes as Maduro.

Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, whose members are aligned with the ruling party, to audit the results. The high court reaffirmed his victory.

The independent experts, who do not represent the United Nations, decried the government's efforts to crush peaceful opposition to its rule.

The justice system — led by the Supreme Tribunal — “is clearly subordinated” to the interests of Maduro and his close allies and served as a “key instrument in its plan to repress all forms of political and social opposition,” they wrote.

In the hours after Maduro was declared the winner, thousands of people took to the streets across Venezuela. The protests were largely peaceful, but demonstrators also toppled statues of Maduro’s predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, threw rocks at law enforcement officers and buildings, and burned police motorcycles and government propaganda.

Maduro's government responded to the demonstrations with full force, carrying out arbitrary detentions, prosecutions as well as a campaign that encourages people to report relatives, neighbors and other acquaintances who participated in the protests or cast doubt on the results.

The independent experts said they compiled the report through interviews with 383 people and reviews of court case files and other documents while also acknowledging limits to their information-gathering in the post-election period.

The experts said their requests for information from Venezuelan authorities were “ignored” despite appeals for cooperation from the rights council, which is made up of a rotating membership among 47 U.N. member countries.

Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists gathered at the presidential palace in support of his reelection one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

FILE - Protesters clash with police during demonstrations against the official election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro's reelection, the day after the vote in Caracas, Venezuela, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)