A court in the western Russian city of Tver has sentenced a man to over two years in prison for reposting photographs on social network VKontakte, the RBC newspaper reported Friday.
Mechanical engineer Andrei Bubeev reposted material originally published by Russian journalist Boris Stomakhin, said human rights lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina from legal rights NGO Agora.
Stomakhin, editor of the monthly newspaper Radikalnaya Politika (Radical Politics), was convicted of extremism for the third time in April.
The material which Bubeev reposted was devoted to the Crimean Peninsula and called for ?€?extremist action and justification of terrorism,?€? the court ruled.
Prosecutors originally asked the Tver court to sentence Bubeev to over three years in prison. He was ultimately sentenced to two years and three months, RBC reported. The defendant pled not guilty and said that he was being persecuted for his beliefs.
The Tver resident was found guilty under Part 2 of Articles 280 and 280.1 of the Russian Criminal Code: public calls for extremist activities and public calls for actions aimed to violate the territorial integrity of Russia.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.