MOSCOW: Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin on Wednesday lost an appeal against what his supporters say was a politically motivated decision to jail him for eight and a half years for criticising Moscow‘s assault on Ukraine.
“The verdict of the Moscow Meshchansky Court should be left unchanged,” said a judge during a hearing at the Moscow City Court.
The former Moscow councillor’s appeal was rejected as authorities take a crackdown on freedoms in Russia to an unprecedented new level, with independent media shut down and key opposition figures behind bars or in exile.
Speaking in court, Yashin said he had been put behind bars for “speaking the truth” over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and Russia.
“The sentence delivered against me is amazing: eight and a half years for a 20-minute speech on the internet,” he said.
“In prison, I met murderers, rapists, and robbers who have received lesser sentences for their crimes.”
Last year, Yashin, 39, described the murder of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha as a “massacre”, referring to a town near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv where civilians were found killed after Russian forces pulled back.
In December 2022, Yashin was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for spreading “false information” about Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
He was tried under legislation that came into force after the start of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine to penalise what the authorities deem to be damaging or false information about the Russian military.
Yashin said that sooner or later “thieves and murderers” will be ousted from power and he would be among those who will build a new Russia.
“I realise that, once free, I will become one of those who will have to clean up this bloody mess,” he said in court.
On Monday, a Russian court sentenced another Kremlin critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, to 25 years in a high security prison on treason and other charges for criticising the Ukraine assault.
“The verdict of the Moscow Meshchansky Court should be left unchanged,” said a judge during a hearing at the Moscow City Court.
The former Moscow councillor’s appeal was rejected as authorities take a crackdown on freedoms in Russia to an unprecedented new level, with independent media shut down and key opposition figures behind bars or in exile.
Speaking in court, Yashin said he had been put behind bars for “speaking the truth” over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and Russia.
“The sentence delivered against me is amazing: eight and a half years for a 20-minute speech on the internet,” he said.
“In prison, I met murderers, rapists, and robbers who have received lesser sentences for their crimes.”
Last year, Yashin, 39, described the murder of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha as a “massacre”, referring to a town near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv where civilians were found killed after Russian forces pulled back.
In December 2022, Yashin was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for spreading “false information” about Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
He was tried under legislation that came into force after the start of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine to penalise what the authorities deem to be damaging or false information about the Russian military.
Yashin said that sooner or later “thieves and murderers” will be ousted from power and he would be among those who will build a new Russia.
“I realise that, once free, I will become one of those who will have to clean up this bloody mess,” he said in court.
On Monday, a Russian court sentenced another Kremlin critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, to 25 years in a high security prison on treason and other charges for criticising the Ukraine assault.