A former schoolteacher in Russia has been sentenced to 5 and a half years in a penal colony for remarks he made on-line about President Vladimir Putin and Russian “fascism” in Ukraine, his fiancee mentioned on Thursday.
Nikita Tushkanov, 29, made the posts final October after the bombing of the Kerch bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea, a serious assault that Moscow blamed on Ukraine.
Tushkanov referred to as the bombing “a birthday present for Putler”—a pejorative time period linking the Russian president to Adolf Hitler. When Russia responded with rocket strikes towards Ukrainian cities, he referred to as it “the revenge of Putin’s fascism for the Kerch bridge.”
His fiancee Alexandra Kochanova informed Reuters his court docket case had lasted “not more than 10 minutes” in entrance of army judges, and that he would enchantment.
Russia launched new censorship legal guidelines after launching its struggle on Ukraine final yr, prescribing lengthy jail sentences for “discrediting” the armed forces or spreading false details about them.
Asked why Tushkanov had written the posts, Kochanova mentioned he believed “it was necessary to write, speak, and show that he didn’t agree. He understood the risks, but he still decided that this was more important, that these were his principles.”
Officers of Russia’s FSB safety service arrested Tushkanov at his residence within the metropolis of Syktyvkar on Dec. 7, impartial news outlet Mediazona reported. He was subsequently added to a federal database of “terrorists and extremists.”
According to Mediazona, Tushkanov was fired in 2021 from his job as a historical past trainer in a small city within the northern Urals for staging a one-man picket in assist of jailed opposition chief Alexei Navalny.
He had twice been fined for anti-war posts since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine final yr, in keeping with court docket paperwork, though one of many fines was dropped.
According to human rights community OVD-Info, 19,673 individuals have been detained for protesting towards Russia’s struggle in Ukraine because it invaded on Feb. 24 final yr, and legal circumstances have been launched towards greater than 550. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
