A German court in Hamburg has decided to open a case against two former executives of German engineering giant Siemens, who are accused of violating sanctions by facilitating the export of Siemens gas turbines to Russian-occupied Crimea.
This is stated in a court statement provided to Reuters journalists.
Last year, prosecutors in the German city of Hamburg charged four Germans and one Swiss-French citizen with violating sanctions.
The Hamburg Regional Court decided to continue the trial of two of them, while the prosecution of the remaining three was discontinued because the investigation did not find sufficient grounds to continue it.
The court statement said prosecutors had appealed the decision to drop the case against the three people. The German judicial authorities did not name the defendants in the case.
A Siemens spokesman said the company could not comment on active litigation, but noted that the case was not directed against Siemens and that the defendants no longer work for the company.
- EU and US sanctions, imposed in response to Russiaʼs illegal annexation of the peninsula in 2014, prohibit Western companies from supplying electricity or energy-related equipment to Crimea.
- Despite sanctions, in 2017, Siemens turbines for electricity generation were installed at two power plants that Moscow is building in Crimea.
- Siemens then stated that they had supplied the turbines to a Russian customer with the expectation that they would be installed at power plants in Russia, and were unaware of any plans to send them to Crimea.
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