In Mykolaiv Oblast, a woman received a 5-year suspended sentence for attempting to sell more than a kilogram of mercury for $800,000

Vitovskyi District Court of the Mykolaiv region found a resident of the region guilty of illegally acquiring, possessing and attempting to sell metallic mercury in particularly large amounts; controlled deliveries took place in April 2023 and 17 May 2023 in Mykolaiv and the village of Zaichivske in Mykolaiv district, and the sentence imposed was 5 years’ imprisonment with a probationary period of 1 year.

The verdict was published in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, and the case materials show that the woman bought more than a kilogram of mercury outside Ukraine in 2022, transported it to her place of residence and stored it for further sale, being aware of the prohibited status of this extremely toxic substance and the legal restrictions on its circulation.

Later the defendant involved two acquaintances in the scheme, and in January 2023 this group offered a potential client to buy about a kilogram of mercury for USD 800,000, but the recipient of the offer informed law enforcement about the illegal activity, after which subsequent contacts took place under police control as part of covert investigative actions.

During the first test meeting in April 2023, the intermediaries handed the buyer a sample for examination weighing 125.76 grams near the “Mykolaiv-Pasazhyrskyi” railway station, and during the second meeting on 17 May 2023 near the Inhul hotel in the village of Zaichivske, Mykolaiv district, the remainder — more than a kilogram of mercury — was transferred.

To document the offense, law enforcement used simulated funds in the amount of USD 800,000, and all of the substance received from the suspects was voluntarily handed over to investigators the same day.

Forensic experts confirmed that the seized substance is metallic mercury, which evaporates at room temperature, and its vapors pose a serious danger to human health; even small doses can cause severe poisoning, and inhalation of the vapors may be fatal.

In court the defendant fully admitted her guilt and expressed remorse, after which her actions were qualified under Part 4 of Article 321 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine as illegal acquisition, possession for the purpose of sale and sale of especially dangerous substances in large amounts, committed by prior conspiracy of a group of persons.

Taking into account the absence of prior convictions and mitigating circumstances, the court sentenced her to 5 years’ imprisonment but released her from serving it with a probationary period of 1 year, and ordered that the seized physical evidence, including the mercury, be destroyed.

Previously we wrote:

• Half a kilogram of PVP and drug dealing in “a tight circle”: Mykolaiv region police busted two suspects
• “I don’t remember the crash”: a Mercedes driver received 8 years for a fatal accident
• A mother and her partner received almost 10 years each in prison for hiding the body of their young son in a freezer
• The foreman of “Mykolaivvodokanal” was tried for reporting the locations of TCC checkpoints
• An 88-year-old woman lost a leg after a traffic accident in Mykolaiv, and the truck driver received a suspended sentence