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Reasons for YES resolution (from a trader):

1. A Russian court has convicted Evan Gershkovich and sent him (back) to jail for 16 years on July 19, after almost 16 months in prison and a rushed trial.

2. The international media has reported this fact using different terms, including: "sentenced", "jailed", "handed a sentence", etc. which are equivalent to the question's wording.

3. There is no indication that the question was about the actual time Evan Gershkovich spent in jail. There should have been a definition of the starting point (arrest date, sentencing date, etc.) and another closing date (2039?). There is no mention in the question about the many ways a prison sentence can be reduced: parole, conditional release, pardon, commutation, escape, appeal, etc.

4. The fact that there has been a swap has no bearing on the matter. A swap was very probable from the moment of the arrest and has nothing to do with the Russian courts.

5. The court's decision probably still stands. There would be no reason to rush the trial and then drop the sentence. I could find no report of an appeal being filed and it seems improbable that the trial will be even reviewed after the swap.

6. I see no way to decide if the imprisonment, accusation, trial, and sentence are a sham. Many people seem to believe that it was very much a sham, but it would not have been the first long, served, prison sentence following a wrongful conviction.

Just for context, regarding whether court’s decision stands - swapped prisoners were officially pardoned, which means they’re free and no longer have a criminal record.

Given that Gershkovich has been freed (though being sentenced to 16 years just about a fortnight ago), and that the owner's account is now deleted, one of @mods should resolve this as they see fit.

@mods

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg64npg33r3o

Both sides in the trial have 15 days to appeal against the verdict, the judge said.

Should we interpret this market as being about the initial sentencing, or the final outcome once appeals are exhausted?

Or other contingencies, lol:

https://www.businessinsider.com/speculation-mounts-about-us-russia-prisoner-swap-2024-7

Speculation mounts that a US-Russia prisoner swap is in the works

• There is speculation about a potential prisoner swap between the US and Russia.

• It comes as several prisoners have disappeared from Russian prisons in recent days.

• The potential prisoner swap could include Evan Gershkovich and Vladimir Kara-Murza, reports say.

I hereby recuse myself from mod decisions on this one, I'm gonna take a punt instead...

Resolves YES.. Citing from Reuters: "...a Russian court handed him a 16-year sentence..."

A NO resolution will mean that Evan Gershkovich "was handed a sentence of" and/or "was sentenced" but did not get more than 15 years, which seems strange. The question makes no mention of the sentence being final or of a swap.

should resolve NO, given that Gershkovich is free now.

Fwiw I had the "sentencing counts for YES" interpretation, but I also don't have anything invested so don't care either way.

i mean if that were true then Chris should have resolved yes, if an initial sentencing is what you mean. Given that it is within 15 days of the sentencing, and that Gershkovich is back, I think the sentence has been dropped (though I can't find any written evidence for this on a quick search), in which case this should resolve NO. It is ambiguous if the market creator meant sentenced at any point in time or rather ultimately sentenced and sent to prison. Also there is the whole "the sentencing was a sham" thing to take into account.

IMO the phrase used in the question generally would refer to the sentence, not the time served.

I just closed it now but ideally someone would have closed it earlier. Can we please close questions when they are obviously about to become primarily about resolution ambiguity instead of about what's actually happening in the world? (Although also the amount people traded is tiny...)

I think this question is a pretty obvious YES by my reading. If another mod disagrees then please N/A, if another mod agrees then please resolve YES.

@jack the fact that there was the possibility of appeal within 15 days (which had not expired yet when he was released) doesn't play into it? I'd totally agree otherwise.

I think it should resolve the same as it would if on appeal the sentence had been reduced to 14 years.

(mod hat is off for this comment, as I'm a trader)

This should resolve n/a. "Courts" implies the whole legal system. So there was an initial decision, but no final decision. The case did not fully exhaust all judicial remedies when the case was ended.

Time served is irrelevant, I agree.

Actually this should resolve NO if the case was dropped, or n/a if the case was not dropped.

If no appeals process plays out then the initial sentence is also the final sentence.

(In a US context, say someone was sentenced by the trial court to 16 years and then suddenly died or was pardoned before any appeals completed. That wouldn't invalidate the verdict and sentence, the appeals would be dropped and the guilty verdict and 16 years would stand as the final sentence. As far as I understand)

Yeah I agree with jack, they were still sentenced to 16 years in prison, and I think that's the easiest way of interpreting 'get more than 15 years in prison'. Especially since a lot of prisoners are released early, you wouldn't want that causing this market to stay open for ten years and then resolve no. And there weren't appeals, jsut a pardon

I think it should resolve the same as it would if on appeal the sentence had been reduced to 14 years.

Pardon's aren't like appeals though

16 years

Creator account is deleted. Changed close time (it's unclear when the sentencing will occur.)