A Russian military court on Friday sentenced a man accused of publishing messages on the Internet denouncing a massacre in Bucha, Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin to eight years in prison.
“The punishment is eight years in prison in a regular prison colony,” said a spokesman for the Central Military Court of Yekaterinburg (Urals), contacted by telephone by the French agency AFP.
The defendant, Richard Roouz, who was arrested in mid-April 2022, was found guilty of “spreading false information” about the Russian military and “inciting to commit terrorist acts on the Internet.”
Roouz was accused of publishing a video on the social network Instagram denouncing the killing of civilians in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kiev, during the withdrawal of Russian troops in spring 2022.
When he republished the video, he added a message cursing “Russian fascists” who he said were behind the massacre, according to the non-governmental organization (NGO) OVD-Info, which documents political repression in Russia .
The discovery of civilian bodies on the streets and in mass graves in Bucha led to an international investigation into the occurrence of a massacre, which Russia has always denied.
In December 2022, Roouz was also charged with “calling for terrorist acts” for commenting on Instagram that Putin needed to be “physically eliminated” to put an end to his actions, according to OVD-Info.
Roouz was detained in the city of Kirov along with his wife Maria, who was also prosecuted for statements against the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022.
Maria Rouuz awaited trial under judicial supervision and left Russia illegally in December with the couple’s son, taking refuge in Armenia.
She was arrested by Armenian police in the spring after being placed on Russia’s wanted list.
She and her son were held for several hours and were at risk of extradition. She was eventually released and fled to Poland, according to OVD-Info.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, OVD-Info has documented 19,810 arrests in Russia as of September 17 this year for anti-war views at demonstrations, social media posts, displaying symbols or private conversations.
Key opposition figures against Putin have fled Russia or are in prison, such as Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza, both serving long sentences.
Source: DN
