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A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a pro-war activist and critic of President Vladimir Putin to six years in prison for justifying terrorism.
Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front movement opposition to putin, who were also affiliated with the Communist Party arrested last year,
According to Russian independent news site Mediazona, the charges against him stem from an article Udaltsov posted online in support of another group of Russian activists accused of forming a terrorist organization.
The activists were sentenced to 16 to 22 years in prison after being convicted earlier this month.
Udaltsov has rejected the allegations against him, calling them fabricated. On Thursday he described the decision as “shameful” and said he was going on a hunger strike, Mediazona reported.
According to the court’s decision, the activist will serve his sentence in a maximum security penal colony.
Udaltsov was a prominent opposition figure during the mass protests in Russia in 2011–12 caused by reports of widespread rigging in parliamentary elections. In February 2012, he attended a meeting held by then-President Dmitry Medvedev with various opposition figures.
Russian authorities have stepped up their crackdown on dissent and freedom of expression after the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine, and rights groups, independent media, and members of civil society organizations continue to be targeted. LGBTQ+ activists and some religious groups. Hundreds of people have been jailed and thousands have fled the country.
In December 2023, a Moscow court sentenced Udaltsov to 40 hours of compulsory labor for violating procedures related to holding a rally after he was detained on Red Square, where he tried to hoist a flag bearing the image of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.
Udaltsov was previously jailed in 2014 And he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on charges related to his role in organizing turbulent demonstrations against Putin in 2012. He was released in 2017.