A court in Moscow has sentenced Dmitry Glukhovsky, an fiction writer, to eight years in prison for posting “fake news about the military” on his Telegram and Instagram, Mediazona reports.
Photo: social media
Glukhovsky was sentenced in absentia as he resides outside Russia. He has been found guilty of “disseminating fake news” about the Russian military due to “political hatred” and “falsification of proof”.
“The aggravating circumstance in my case is that I accused the Russian President of starting a war against Ukraine. I still stand by what I wrote there,” the author said earlier.
“An ageing [man] is trying to reclaim his political libido and book himself a place in history by starting a short and victorious war. Burnt down cars and destroyed homes, families torn apart, thousands of murdered civilians and millions of refugees: is it too much of a price to pay for a great purpose?” Glukhovsky wrote in the post that he believes to have triggered the charges.
Russia issued an arrest warrant for Glukhovsky in early July. He is famous worldwide for his Metro series of books that established a big franchise that includes the eponymous video game series. After the Ukraine war had started, Glukhovsky posted anti-war statements multiple times, revealing the losses of the Russian military and covering the killings of Ukrainian civilians.
