Nikolai Farafonov, 35, was found guilty by a court of “public incitement to commit terrorist acts.”
Warsaw:
A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced a man to six years in prison for posting online messages condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow suppressed public criticism of the conflict.
According to local media reports, the military court of the Komi region in northern Russia found 35-year-old Nikolai Farafonov guilty of “public incitement to commit terrorist acts.”
Prosecutors said he posted “videos and messages” calling for draft offices to be burned down.
Russia has reported dozens of arson attacks or attempted attacks on such sites since the war began two years ago.
The NGO Memorial called Farafonov a political prisoner, saying he lived in a small town in the region and ran a channel on the Telegram messaging service that was openly hostile to the conflict.
He specifically mentioned the Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, while criticizing political repression, pro-Kremlin “patriotic” education in schools and other local issues, Memorial said in the channel.
Farafonov was previously fined in October 2022 for “smearing” the military, and the memorial said online comments mentioned Ukrainian children dying from Russian bayonets.
Despite the fine, Farafonov continued to publish critical messages until last September when he was arrested for “calling for terrorism.”
Thousands of Russians have been fined and hundreds imprisoned for condemning President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 attacks in neighboring Ukraine.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
