A Moscow court sentenced in absentia Pyotr Verzilov, a Russian-Canadian activist and founder of an independent news website, to eight years and four months in prison for social media posts criticizing the war in Ukraine, Russian media reported on Tuesday. fair (2).
Verzilov, 36, rose to prominence as the unofficial spokesperson for the Russian feminist opposition group Pussy Riot following the arrest of members in February 2012, in which they donned balaclavas and stormed the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, shouting a song against President Vladimir Putin.
Last week, the same court also sentenced another Pussy Riot activist, Lyusya Shtein, to six years in absentia under wartime censorship laws.
Verzilov has posted frequent criticism on social media of Russia's war in Ukraine, including videos showing mass graves in the Kiev suburb of Bucha.
The Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram channel said the Basmanny District Court in Moscow found Verzilov guilty of spreading “deliberately false” information about the Russian military.
He was convicted last year of the same crime, but an appeals court overturned the verdict in March for unspecified reasons and ordered a new trial.
Verzilov left Russia in 2020 after authorities searched his home and he was accused of failing to inform the government that he is a citizen of Canada, where he spent part of his childhood.
He announced last year that he had joined the Ukrainian army in the fight against Russia, although it is unclear whether he is still there.
Verzilov could not immediately be reached for comment.
In 2014, he and other Pussy Riot activists co-founded the independent news website Mediazona, which reports on Russia's criminal justice system.
An ally of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Verzilov was, like Navalny, treated in Germany for suspected poisoning after suddenly falling ill in Russia in 2018 and temporarily losing his vision, hearing and ability to walk.
Source: CNN Brasil

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