An appeals court in the Czech Republic has sentenced a 41-year-old Belarusian citizen to 21 years in prison for taking part in the war in eastern Ukraine on the side of pro-Russian separatists.
Alyaksey Fadzeeu was found guilty of terrorism.
The court reviewed and increased Fadzeeu's sentence after he had initially been sentenced in September to 4 1/2 years in prison for collaborating with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
But after an appeal by the prosecutor, who considered the sentence too lenient, Fadzeeu was found guilty of terrorism on July 22 and sentenced to 21 years in prison, according to Czech media reports.
From October 2014 to May 2016, prosecutors said he repeatedly traveled to eastern Ukraine to support separatist groups and served in the armed forces of one of the separatist entities.
Fadzeeu has lived in the Czech Republic for many years.