A court in Tula has banned Alexey Moskalyov, a local resident whose daughter earlier drew an anti-war doodle, from using the Internet for two years, Mediazona reports.
This verdict was issued by an appeals court.
In his final plea, Moskalyov read the letter from his daughter aloud: “I’m asking you one thing: do not give up. You’re the best dad.”
After this, Moskalyov added: “I’m asking you to sentence me to capital punishment as my heart bleeds as I go through all of this”.
In late April, the prosecutor demanded that Moskalyov’s sentence be toughened. He is currently serving two years in prison for “discrediting” the Russian military. After today’s verdict, he will be banned from going online for two years after he is released. The prosecutor stressed that the man committed his alleged crime “in the time of an armed conflict”.
Moskalyov was sentenced to two years in prison on 28 March. He was found guilty of “discrediting” the Russian army. However, reports emerged soon after that Moskalyov fled his house arrest several hours before the hearing. The Belarusian Interior Ministry later confirmed that the man had been detained in Minsk.
In early March, Moskalyov’s daughter Maria, who drew an anti-war picture in school, was placed in an orphanage. She wrote a letter to her father. “Hi Dad, I need you to stay healthy and calm. I’m okay, I love you so much and you should know that you did nothing wrong, I’ll always be on your side and I believe everything you do is right,” she wrote. Maria moved to her mother’s place on 5 April.
