美國起訴五名俄羅斯商人和三名敘利亞商人

Five Russian and three Syrian businessmen were indicted in federAl court in Washington Tuesday for alleged money laundering and using a Crimean-based shipping company to send jet fuel to Syria.

Along with the charges, the eight also face large fines.

"The U.S. sanctions on Syria and Crimea thwart Syria's support of terrorism and its pursuit and use of weapons of mass destruction as well as the actions of those who seek to undermine Ukraine's democratic processes and territorial integrity," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said.

The eight are accused of setting up front companies and using phony documents and shipping records to circumvent sanctions against U.S. dollar wires to Syria or any transactions with Syria involving U.S. dollars.

The suspects allegedly used tankers owned by a Russian-based company to illegally ship jet fuel and other materials to Syria.

The defendants have not yet entered a plea, but they face as much as 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges.5名俄羅斯商人和3名敘利亞商人星期二在華盛頓聯邦法庭被起訴，罪名是洗錢和利用在克里米亞的船運公司向敘利亞運送噴氣機燃料。

這8人除被起訴外還面臨高額罰款。

美國助理司法部長德默斯（John Demers）說：“美國對敘利亞和克里米亞的制裁是爲了阻斷敘利亞支持恐怖主義和謀求和使用大規模殺傷性武器，同時制裁那些謀求破壞烏克蘭民主進程和領土完整的人。”

這8人被指控設立門面公司，使用假造的文件和船運記錄繞過美國的制裁。美國禁止把美元電匯到敘利亞或與敘利亞進行任何使用美元的交易。

這些嫌疑人據稱使用俄羅斯公司擁有的油輪非法把噴氣機燃料和其它物品運到敘利亞。

這些被告尚未表示是否認罪，但是如果所有罪名成立的話，他們將面臨長達25年的監禁。