Son of former Putin’s ally awarded 2,7 million kroner compensation
The money comes after the acquittal in a drone flying case
Yakunin Andrey, the son of the former President of the Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, has been awarded 2.7 million Norwegian kroner (€228,764) in compensation after the drone flying acquittal, VG reports citing the NTB news agency.
“Andrey Yakunin was fully and completely acquitted of having done something criminal during his holiday stay in Svalbard, and he is then entitled to have his expenses for his defense covered. The prosecution chose to make this case unnecessarily long, and that means that the court has now awarded Yakunin compensation for his own expenses of almost NOK three million”, Yakunin’s lawyer John Christian Elden is quoted as saying by the VG.
Mr. Yakunin, who is a dual Russian-British citizen, spent more than 50 days in custody after he launched a drone in Svalbard in the summer of 2022, where Yakunin traveled on his yacht “Firebird”. The actual drone footage, obtained by the NRK, shows sunny pictures of the vessel along with the Arctic landscapes.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian citizens are not allowed to operate drones on Norwegian soil. During the court sessions, Andrei Yakunin and his legal team insisted that the drone was used for tourism purposes only.
The Norwegian court concluded that Mr. Yakunin could not have known back then that it was illegal to fly a drone in Svalbard and he was acquitted of any wrongdoing.
