A Moscow court argues that he has spread “false information” about his country’s Armed Forces
The lawyers of the Ilya Yashin They already warned this week that his trial was on the fast track. Finally, it was necessary to wait until Friday to confirm the final verdict of the Moscow court: eight and a half years prison for the opponent, one of the few that remained in Russia and free. Her crime has been “spread false information” about the Russian Army; Specifically, he stated in a YouTube streaming that the Bucha massacre was carried out by Russian troops. The prosecution requested nine years in prison for Yashin, who had worked side by side with the also imprisoned Alexei Navalni and other members of your team.
Previously, he posted on the newspaper ‘The Moscow Times‘ an opinion piece addressing the Russian president, Vladimir Putin: “People are running away from you, Mr. President.” Regarding his arrest, he explained: “I am being isolated from society and imprisoned because they want me to shut uplike our Parliament, which is no longer a place for debate and Russia must be agree silently with any measure that your government takes.” He also pointed out that, in his opinion, his mission is “tell the truth“. And he added that until now he had spoken “in squares, in television studios, in Parliament” and he will not stop “speaking while behind bars”. This Friday, the day he has known his nearest future, he has been lively : “Don’t worry, whoever believes that Putin will be in command eight more years is too optimistic“.
Other opponents have suffered a fate similar to his, as is the case of Vladimir Kara-Murzawhich was arrested in april by “spread fake news” in a speech in the Arizona House of Representatives. In july was charged of “organizing the activities of an undesirable organization” for collaborating with the Open Russia association and in october, high treason. Russian justice points to him as a “long-term” collaborator of NATO countries.
.@IlyaYashin‘s reaction after he was sentenced to 8.5 years for criticizing the war in Ukraine:
“Don’t worry, anyone who thinks Putin’s going to rule for 8 years is being very optimistic.” pic.twitter.com/fQ9e93mgqw— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) December 9, 2022
Law against ‘fakes’
Shortly after starting the Russian offensive on Ukrainethe Government of Moscow got down to work in March to limit criticism and news about the Armed Forces. According to this modification of the Penal Code, it can be punished with up to 15 years in jail the distribution of ‘fakes’ about the Russian Army, in addition to other lighter penalties such as fines.
Another of those affected by this law was the former mayor of Yekaterinburg Yevgeny Roizman, who was convicted of “discrediting the Army” and is under house arrest and unable to use the internet. Due to these pressures, other Russian dissidents have chosen to leave the country and denounce the situation from Georgia, Armenia or the EU, as is the case of independent media like ‘Dozhd’ or ‘Novaya Gazeta’.