Councilor Alexei Gorinov was sentenced today to seven years in prison for his criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is the first time someone has been jailed under the new law for spreading “false information”, a lawyer critical of the Kremlin said.
Alexei Gorinov, a member of the city council of the Krasnoselsky district, said during the council meeting on March 15, where a painting competition for children was discussed, that Russia is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine.
“What kind of children’s drawing competition can we discuss on Children’s Day … when we have children dying every day?” he had said at the meeting, the recording of which was posted on YouTube.
Gorinov was arrested under Article 207.3 of the criminal code, passed shortly after Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which makes it illegal to “deliberately disseminate false information about the Russian military,” which is defined as information that deviates from the official references.
Gorinov’s supporters posted on their Telegram channel a photo of the city councilman, handcuffed and inside a glass canopy as a defendant, holding a placard during the trial that read: “You still need this war;”.
“They took my spring, they took my summer, and now they’ve taken seven more years of my life,” he was quoted as saying during the trial.
Leonid Volkov, chief of staff to jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said the sentence, which was posted on the court’s Telegram account, was intended to make an example of those who use the word “war” when referring to its actions of Russia in Ukraine.
Since launching what Russia calls a “special military operation,” Russia has shut down the media and prosecuted people who refer to its actions as “war” or “invasion.”
Many people have been fined administratively for protesting the war, but lawyer Pavel Chikov told Telegram that only two others have been convicted of criminal offenses under Article 207.3, and that one was given a fine and the other a suspended prison sentence.
Russia claims it had to use force to defend persecuted Russian speakers and defuse a military threat from Ukraine.
Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss such excuses as baseless pretexts for a war of conquest that has cost thousands of lives, leveled cities and displaced a third of Ukraine’s population.
Source: Capital
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