The sentence concerns Russian Vitaly Aleksandrovich Rustanovich, who was stopped at a checkpoint at the Storskog border station in Finnmark on his way to Russia on 11 October.
During the check in Storskog, the police found large amounts of data on hard drives and several drones in the luggage.
He has now been sentenced to unconditional imprisonment for 120 days, with 49 days deducted from the sentence.
– We are very satisfied with the verdict of the Oslo District Court. They followed us on all legal issues and what level the sentence should be in a case like this, says state attorney Marit Formo.
According to the verdict, the Russian flew a drone 47 times to Norway in the period between August 27 and October 11.
Vitaly Aleksandrovich Rustanovich was detained in Storskog in October with two drones and storage equipment.
The case against Rustanovitch, who is a Russian and Israeli citizen, began in the Oslo District Court on Nov. 24. He admitted to flying a drone in Norway, but says he didn’t know it was illegal. He pleaded not guilty.
According to the prosecutor, this is not a case with difficult legal issues.
– We record that so far there have been four cases of illegal drone flights by Russians in Norway. If there are more cases, we will prosecute them too, concludes Formo.
Rustanovitch was going to visit a student friend who rents cabins in Norway and take pictures and videos of the cabins and Norwegian nature. His student friend hosted him as payment for work as he was unemployed.
He didn’t ask his student friend about the legality of drone flying in Norway.
Was television 2 who first cited the ruling.
Another Russian he received 90 days in jail to fly the drone, while PST required the same for another Russian. This means that Rustanovich received a harsher sentence.
