A court in Germany has sentenced two men to prison terms for breaching European Union sanctions by exporting goods to Russia.
The court in the city of Münster sentenced the 34-year-old younger brother to four years and one month in jail, whilst the older brother, 39, is to serve three years and 10 months, a court spokeswoman told dpa.
The verdict was handed down on Monday and forms part of a plea deal. The men had made full confessions, even going beyond the charges brought against them, which the court counted in their favour.
They were charged with violations of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act. The court found that, as managing directors of a company, the men had circumvented EU sanctions by exporting mechanical engineering components via shell companies in Turkey and Kyrgyzstan in 2023 and 2024.
Investigators discovered 65 illegal exports worth just under €833,000 ($972,000).