London. A Moscow court sentenced Pytor, a Russian-Canadian activist and founder of an independent news site, in absentia to eight years and four months in prison for posting on social media critical of the war in Ukraine, Russian media reported Tuesday. .
Verzilov, 36, rose to fame as the unofficial spokesperson for the feminist opposition group Pussy Riot after its members were imprisoned following an exploit in February 2012 in which they put on balaclavas and broke into the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. from Moscow shouting a song against Putin.
Last week, the same court sentenced another Pussy Riot activist, Lyusya Shtein, to six years also in absentia under wartime censorship laws.
Verzilov has posted frequent criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine on social media, including videos showing mass graves in the Kiev suburb of Bucha.
The Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram channel reported that Moscow’s Basmanny District Court had found Verzilov guilty of spreading “deliberately false” information about the Russian military.
He was convicted last year of the crime, but an appeals court overturned the verdict in March for unspecified reasons and ordered a new trial.
Verzilov left Russia in 2020 after authorities searched his home and he was accused of failing to inform the government that he is a citizen of Canada, where he spent part of his childhood.
Last spring he announced that he had joined the Ukrainian army fighting Russia, although it is unclear whether he is still there.
Verzilov could not immediately be reached for comment.
In 2014, he and other Pussy Riot activists co-founded the independent news site Mediazona, which reports on Russia’s criminal justice system.
An ally of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Verzilov was, like Navalny, treated in Germany for suspected poisoning after suddenly falling ill in Russia in 2018 and temporarily losing his sight, hearing and the ability to walk.
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– 2024-04-08 11:16:13
