Russia jails Crimean Tatar leader's son for five years:
A Russian court has sentenced the son of a leading Crimean Tatar figure to five years in prison for the equivalent of manslaughter, a ruling his lawyer said was illegal.
Khaiser Dzhemilev, son of veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, was arrested in May 2013 by Ukrainian authorities in connection with the shooting death of his friend. Khaiser Dzhemilev has said he shot his friend by accident.
After Crimea's annexation by Russia in March 2014, the Moscow-backed authorities took over the case and transferred him to the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. Mustafa Dzhemilev has accused Russia of holding his son hostage.
Dzhemilev faced a possible murder conviction, but a Krasnodar court on June 2 found him guilty of inflicting death by negligence, which carries a lesser sentence. He was also found guilty of stealing and possessing a firearm.
Mustafa Dzhemilev, who strongly protested the annexation of Crimea and is currently living in Kyiv, was barred in May from entering the peninsula and has claimed Russia was holding his son hostage.
The elder Dzhemilev, 71, is a member of the Ukrainian parliament and a well-known Soviet-era human rights activist. (w/ UNIAN, TASS)
In Italy, Putin calls for Minsk implementation:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that full implementation of a cease-fire agreement reached in Minsk in February is vital to ending fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Milan on June 10, Putin said there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Welcoming Putin at the Expo 2015 global fair earlier on June 10, Renzi praised the "traditional Italian Russian friendship" but spoke of "divergent positions" on some issues.
Moscow Court Extends Savchenko's Pretrial Detention
A Russian court has extended the pretrial detention of Ukrainian pilot and parliament member Nadia Savchenko until September 10.
Russian news agencies reported that the Moscow City Court issued the ruling on June 10.
Savchenko, 34, has been jailed in Russia since July 2014.
She says she was illegally brought into Russia after being abducted by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
She is charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died in the Ukraine conflict, as well as illegal border crossing.
Savchenko denies her guilt and says Russia has no right to detain her.
The United States has raised concerned over the “callous and outrageous” treatment of Savchenko by Russian authorities and called for her immediate release.