journalist sentenced to seven years in prison for criticizing the war in Ukraine

This is a new example of the repression plaguing Russia. Russian journalist and blogger Roman Ivanov was sentenced on Wednesday March 6 to seven years in prison for publishing messages criticizing the assault on Ukraine on social networks. The court in Korolev, a small town northeast of Moscow, found the 51-year-old man guilty of “spreading false information” on the Russian army in three messages published on the Russian social network VKontakte and on the Telegram messaging service.

One of the publications concerned in particular the events in the Ukrainian town of Boucha, where bodies of killed civilians were discovered in April 2022, kyiv accusing the Russian army of these massacres, which Moscow has always denied.

During his trial, Roman Ivanov, arrested in April 2023, pleaded not guilty, believing that his trial was part of the “repression” voices critical of the Kremlin. “I want to ask forgiveness from all Ukrainians to whom our country has caused grief”, he also declared to the judges. And to add: “Journalism no longer exists in Russia.”

Just after the verdict was announced, his supporters, present in the corridors of the court, chanted: “We are with you. You are not alone!”, according to an AFP journalist on site. His mother, Alla Ivanova, interviewed by the press, quickly denounced an accusation “made” from scratch. “He fought for people, helped them”she said.