A Moscow regional court on Friday sentenced a musician and environmental activist to six years in prison for publishing three messages on social media condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine, one of his friends told AFP.

CourtroomPhoto: Andriy Popov / Dreamstime.com

Oleksandr Bakhtin, 51, from Mytysh near Moscow, was arrested in March 2023 and charged with spreading “false information” about the Russian military, a charge routinely used to suppress voices critical of the conflict.

“Aleksandr was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from running websites for three years,” Andriy Shetynin, one of his friends who attended the hearing, told AFP.

According to the sentence, which was also confirmed by the specialized Russian public organization “OVD-Info”, Bakhtin will also be required to consult a psychiatrist during his stay in the colony.

In March and April 2022, Bakhtin published three messages on the Russian social network VKontakte in which he condemned the military campaign in Ukraine, noting the casualties among the civilian population and the involvement of Vladimir Putin.

On Friday, shortly before the verdict was announced, the prosecutor’s office requested that Bakhtin be sentenced to eight years in prison.

His mother, 79-year-old Lyudmila, “started to cry and collapsed in the courtroom,” Shtediny said.

Judge Maria Loktionova had to briefly interrupt the session. After the verdict was announced, Oleksandr Bakhtin shouted at the judge: “Is it okay with you, Loktionova.”

In addition to the high-profile cases of prominent Kremlin opponents jailed since the conflict began in February 2022, thousands of anonymous people have been arrested and sentenced to fines and prison terms in Russia for denouncing the Russian military operation.

According to the Russian public organization OVD-Info, more than 20,000 people were arrested in Russia during protests against the conflict in Ukraine. Several hundred others have become the objects of serious legal proceedings. (photo: Andriy Popov / Dreamstime.com)

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