A Moscow court has sentenced politician Ilya Yashin to 8.5 years of prison for disseminating “fakes” about the Russian military, a Novaya Gazeta Europe correspondent reports from the courtroom.
He is also banned from managing websites for 4 years.
After the verdict was announced, a message was posted on Yashin’s Telegram channel regarding his sentence:
“So, the court sentenced me to 8 years and 6 months in prison. Well, the masterminds of this verdict are very optimistic about Putin’s prospects. Too optimistic, I believe.”
“Authorities use this frantic verdict to intimidate all of us, but in reality only show they are weak. Strong leaders are calm and confident, only wimps seek to silence everyone and eradicate any dissent. So, I can only reiterate what I said on the day of my arrest: I am not scared, and you should not be.”
“Change is on the horizon, we will all soon have to work a lot to reinstate justice and humanism in our country.”
“I am not going anywhere.”
Earlier, state prosecutor Sergey Belov asked the court for a 9-year prison term for Yashin. The criminal case was launched after the politician held a live stream where he shared information about the murders in Bucha. At the same time, he voiced opinions of both sides, Moscow and Kyiv.
According to the investigators, the politician knew that “the photos and video footage published by the Kyiv regime, which allegedly prove that Russian servicemen were committing illegal acts in Bucha, Kyiv region, represent a provocation”.
The prosecutor referred to the reports by OSCE and UN regarding the Bucha events as “biassed, one-sided and hostile". He also stated that the EU and UN “did not write anything about the Odesa tragedy and did not investigate the persecution and teh genocide of the people in Donbas,” which proves their “bias”.
“Only media from the unfriendly states and US satellites such as NATO and the EU, wrote about Russia’s crimes in Bucha,” the prosecutor read out from a piece of paper.
Yashin was arrested on 13 July and was in custody since.
