Russia. opponent was sentenced to 7 years in prison for condemning the attack against Ukraine

Alexey Gorinov, an elected Moscow city official, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday (July 8) for condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine, amid a wave of crackdowns aimed at silencing any criticism of the attack by Vladimir Putin.

Since Russian forces entered Ukraine on February 24, authorities have passed a series of laws to impose harsh penalties on those who publicly condemn the attack, banning the use of the words “”.war“and”invasion“.

condemns “the war“and”aggression»

Judge Olesia Mendeleyeva found the 60-year-old defendant guilty:has spread clearly false informationon the Russian army using “his official dutiesand did so as part of an organized group motivated bypolitical hatred“. “The recovery of the accused is impossible without the penalty of deprivation of libertythe judge assessed before sentencing him to seven years in a penitentiary colony. In the past, the public at the trial applauded the defendant, which led to the removal of people who had come to support him from the room.

Alexei Gorinov is the first dissident, an elected official at that, to be jailed for his stance against Russian interference in Ukraine, but other activists are currently awaiting trial in custody. “The President of the Russian Federation said that it is necessary to ensure the full support of the people for the special operation. If the sentence was not so severe, we could accuse the judge of disobeying the president.– assessed Vladimir Roslov, an 82-year-old retiree who came to court to support the elected official.

Punished “for his opinion”

Shortly before the verdict, a gray-haired man standing in a glass cage for the accused, his face tense and his gaze piercing, held up to the cameras a sheet that read:Do you still need this war?Another elected municipal official, Yelena Kotenochkina, is accused of the same charges but has not been tried because she fled Russia, like many opposition activists, fearing a crackdown that has intensified in Russia in recent months.

Alexei Gorinov, trained as a lawyer, was arrested in April to be sentenced on March 15 “attack“Moscow vs. Ukraine, where now?”children die every day“During his district’s town hall meeting, the session was filmed and broadcast on YouTube. “All civil society efforts should be used to stop the war and withdraw Russian forces from Ukrainian territory.“, he specifically stated.

Alexei Gorinov, who has been in prison since April 26 in Moscow, will appeal his conviction, according to his lawyer Katerina Tertukhina, arguing that he was punished “his words, opinions, beliefs“. “The judge said in his ruling that freedom of speech can be limited in our country“, he added. Alla, the wife of the elected official, cried when she heard the verdict.I lived with him for 32 years, I hoped that my happiness would continue“.

against wars

On Thursday, during the previous session, Alexei Gorinov claimed that “against all wars“. He also cited the names of Ukrainian cities, such as Bucha, where Russian forces have been accused of war crimes, abuses that Russian authorities say are lies or staged. Since the attack began in Ukraine, dozens of people who publicly criticized it have been prosecuted in Russia.

Many of them have been fined, but others face heavy prison terms, such as Vladimir Kara-Murza, one of the few dissidents left in Russia. Another example is St. Petersburg artist Alexandra Skotchilenko, who has been jailed since April awaiting trial for pasting up pacifist signs in a supermarket, tightening her criminal arsenal against those who criticize the Russian government.

This week, parliament passed a series of texts that provide for heavy prison sentences in very vague language to quell calls for action against its security or even cooperation.secretwith strangers. Since February, Russia has also blocked many Russian and foreign media on its territory, as well as some of the largest social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.