An American man is facing up to a two year prison sentence in Siberia for illegally entering Russia from Kazakhstan, TASS news agency reported Thursday citing the press office of the Prosecutor for the Novosibirsk region.
Julio Prieto, 29, is currently in custody Karasuk in Russia's Novosibirsk region, awaiting trial for illegally entering the country. According to the prosecutor’s statement, Prieto was denied entry into Russia on Sep. 14 because he did not have a visa.
Prieto subsequently “bypassed the border crossing point and crossed the state border into Russia” before being detained by border police, the statement said.
The prosecutor's office stated that Prieto had fully admitted to the crime and faces a penalty of up to two years imprisonment.
The Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper later reported that Prieto had attempted to come to Siberia “in search of a better life” and hoped to find a job, having previously moved to Kazakhstan from the U.S. state of Colorado.
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