Posted on 01/19/2026 5:47:14 PM PST by xxqqzz
Russia has sentenced an American man to five years in prison for illegally transporting weapons, a court said Monday, noting that a rifle was found on his yacht after it docked in the port city of Sochi last June. Russian media said he smuggle the weapons on his private yacht from July 2024 — June 2025.
Dozens of Westerners, including Americans, have been imprisoned in Russia, especially after the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, with many of them later swapped in prisoner exchanges.
"A U.S. citizen was found guilty of illegally transporting and moving firearms," the regional court's' press service said in a statement. It identified him as Charles Wayne Zimmerman and said he "admitted his guilt in full" and was "sentenced to five years in prison."
Zimmerman's sister says he was detained by Russian authorities in international waters and forced to pilot his vessel to Sochi, and that he should be formally designated by the U.S. State Department as wrongfully detained by Russia.
The Sochi court didn't mention when he was sentenced, but said an appeal against the conviction had been rejected. It was the first time his arrest and conviction has been mentioned in Russian media, which usually cover judicial proceedings of foreign citizens closely.
According to the court, the man sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It cited him as saying he'd met a Russian woman online and decided to visit her and that he didn't know he was forbidden to keep a weapon on his yacht while it was docked in Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
It was stupid of him to be there in the first place.
“He was sailing from the U.S. to New Zealand, so of course he had a firearm on board.”
Last zI looked, the Black Sea is not on that route ...
“It was stupid of him to be there in the first place.”
That is lie a war zone.
It is not illegal to have a rifle in international waters. The laws of the country who owns a port are what counts in port.
Many countries allow you to keep firearms on board if they are unloaded and locked up.
It is a dicey part of international law.
Made a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
This is Russia’s new gig, taking hostages.
He got lured in by a woman, apparently.
If he was a basketball player claiming to be a woman, the Democrats would trade an arms dealer for him.
The last foreign country I visited was Toronto.
Mexico is the same way. If you’re ever visiting one of the US cities with a border crossing & have a gun in your car, and you accidentally drive onto a road that enters Mexico, STOP IMMEDIATELY. Do NOT keep going, and assume the Mexican border guards will “just let me turn around because I made a wrong turn”. In fact, they will arrest you, seize your firearm and your vehicle, and throw you in jail. And Mexico is a ‘friendly’ country - the US is not providing munitions that are killing Mexican soldiers on a daily basis...
Considering who is involved here, Russia, I would not be surprised if this is often done to make it more convenient for a prisoner exchange.
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