Jailed former Moscow municipal lawmaker Alexey Gorinov has been hit with additional charges of “justifying terrorism” for talking with his cellmates, the Freedom to Alexey Gorinov group said on Monday.
Prosecutors argue that Gorinov’s discussion with cellmates about the explosion on the Crimean Bridge in October 2022 amounted to the “justification of terrorism”. They also accused Gorinov of discussing the activity of Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, which is deemed a “terrorist organisation” in Russia.
Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison in July last year for “spreading false information” about the Russian military after he publicly opposed the Moscow City Council’s plans to hold a children’s art competition in light of the war in Ukraine.
“What art competition are you talking about … when children are dying every day?” Gorinov said during a council meeting at which he also referred to Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine as a war.
Despite his deteriorating health, Gorinov has repeatedly been sent to solitary confinement while in jail as prison officials consider him a “flight risk”.
