Alexei Gorinov, 60, was found guilty of spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian army. Gorinov is the first elected member of the opposition to be sentenced to jail for criticising Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
A Moscow court on Friday sentenced a city councillor to seven years in prison for denouncing President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine intervention, an AFP reporter said.
Alexei Gorinov, 60, was found guilty of spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian army.
Gorinov is the first elected member of the opposition to be sentenced to jail for criticising Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
He appeared in court with a poster that read: “Do you still need this war?”.
Court bailiffs used their hands in an effort to cover the poster from cameras, before Gorinov removed it himself.
His wife Alla cried in court as the sentence was read out, and some supporters stood up to applaud him, before being removed from the courtroom.
Gorinov is accused of discrediting the Russian army under strict legislation that rights activists say is part of Moscow’s increasing efforts to snuff out the last vestiges of dissent.
He spoke up against Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine during a work meeting in March that was recorded on video and is available on YouTube.
During his speech, he questioned plans for an art competition for children in his constituency while “every day children are dying” in Ukraine.
Judge Olesya Mendeleyeva said Gorinov committed the crime “as part of a group of persons by prior agreement based on political hatred.”
She said he and another deputy, Yelena Kotyonochkina who has since fled Russia, “misled” Russians over the Kremlin’s military campaign in Ukraine and caused them to “feel anxiety and fear.”
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