A Moscow court on Friday found opponent Ilia Yachin guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian army, after criticism of the military offensive in Ukraine for which he faces a heavy prison sentence.
The court found Ilia Yachin guilty of having committed the “crime” of disseminating false information about the Russian army, said the president of the court, according to an AFP correspondent on the spot.
The opponent’s sentence was to be announced at the end of the verdict, which sometimes takes several hours. The prosecutor had requested nine years in prison.
Ilia Iachine, 39, arrested in June, was on trial for having denounced during a live intervention on YouTube “the murder of civilians” in the Ukrainian town of Boutcha, near Kyiv, where the Russian army was accused of abuses, which Moscow denies.
His arrest did not prevent him from continuing to criticize the authorities in an acerbic manner and to denounce the military intervention in Ukraine.
After the launch of the military operation in Ukraine, the Russian authorities strengthened their legislative arsenal to muzzle critical voices.
Several people have already been sentenced to several years in prison after being convicted of publishing “false information” or “discrediting” the army.