On April 17, the Moscow City Court sentenced opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza* to 25 years in prison for treason, “rigging” the Russian military and activities of an undesirable organization. This is what the prosecution demanded for Kara-Murza*. Russian media recalls other recent high profile convictions against politicians, journalists and public figures.
Journalist Ivan Safronov – 22 years old
Yevgeny Razumny / Vedomosti / TASS
Until now, one of the most severe in recent times was considered a conviction for treason against journalist Ivan Safronov. In September 2022, after spending two years in a pre-trial detention center, he was sentenced to 22 years in a strict regime colony – two years less than what the prosecution had requested.
According to the FSB, Safronov collaborated with Czech and German intelligence services and passed on information “about military-technical cooperation between Russia and the Middle Eastern African state.”
In 2017, Safronov allegedly handed over to the Czech special services through his friend, Czech journalist Martin Larisch, classified information, the final recipient of which, according to the FSB, is the United States. Safronov was also accused of transferring data on Russian military activities in Syria to German intelligence services through political scientist Dmitry (Demuri) Voronin. The latter was sentenced in March 2023 to 13 years in prison in a treason case.
Safronov claimed that he was working with open sources and linking the criminal case to his journalistic activities.
Former Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Sergey Furgal – 22 years old
Sergei Karpukhin / TASS
Furgal became governor in 2018, beating Vyacheslav Shport, the incumbent leader of the Khabarovsk Territory, by a wide margin in the second round of elections. Furgal held this position for less than two years: in the summer of 2020, he was arrested for organizing two murders and attempted murder.
After that, Russian President Vladimir Putin removed Furgal from his post due to a loss of trust. The governor’s arrest sparked mass protests in Khabarovsk that lasted over a hundred days.
Investigators say Furgal and his business partner Nikolai Mistryukov in 2004 created an organized group responsible for the bombing of scrap metal buyer Alexander Smolsky and the murder of entrepreneurs Oleg Bulatov and Yevgeny Zori.
Furgal pleaded not guilty and called the case fabricated. Speaking with the last word before the verdict was announced, the politician said they wanted to ‘physically destroy it’ and expressed bewilderment why ‘they waited 16 years, and only then opened a criminal case’ .
Putin, commenting on the ex-governor’s case, said he was charged with “a member of an organized criminal group involved in the elimination of competitors” and that there was no question of political persecution.
In February 2023, the Lyubertsy court of the Moscow region sentenced Furgal to 22 years in a strict regime colony.
Oppositionist Alexei Navalny – 9 years old
Sergei Fadeichev / TASS
In March 2022, Moscow’s Lefortovo court sentenced Navalny to nine years in a strict-regime colony in a donation fraud and contempt of court case. Before that, the politician had already served a sentence in a penal colony in the Yves Rocher case, he was to be released in October 2023.
The particularly massive fraud case against Navalny is linked to the politician’s 2018 presidential campaign. According to investigators, the opponent and his acolytes spent the donations collected from their supporters for personal needs. Initially, it was about the embezzlement of more than 356 million rubles, but the court considered only four episodes with a loss of 2.7 million rubles.
The contempt charge was linked to a defamation case against World War II veteran Ignat Artemenko in February 2021. Navalny was accused of insulting process participants and Judge Vera Akimova: according to the UK , this was expressed in phrases such as “damn”, “that’s a vile toad”, “Obersturmbannfuehrer”.
It was expected that, given the new mandate, Navalny would be released in 2031, but in October he announced the opening of a new case against him – terrorist propaganda, calls for extremist activities and its financing , as well as the rehabilitation of Nazism. . According to Navalny, given the terms of these articles, he faces up to 30 years in prison.
Moscow City Deputy Alexei Gorinov – 7 years (“wrong” about the army)
Ivan Vodopyanov / Kommersant
The deputy of the Krasnoselsky district of Moscow became the first person sentenced to a real sentence under the article on “falseness” in the Russian army (207.3 of the Criminal Code), which appeared in the Criminal Code of the Russia after the start of the military operation in Ukraine.
The reason for opening a criminal case against Gorinov was the discussion of city deputies of the Krasnoselsky district in March 2022, devoted to the recreation of Muscovites during the May holidays. Gorinov called the entertainment against the background of hostilities “savage”, the head of the Council of Deputies Elena Kotenochkina agreed with him.
According to investigators, Gorinov and Kotenochkina colluded and discredited the Russian military “on grounds of hatred or enmity” using their official position.
Kotenochkina then left Russia, while Gorinov was arrested and placed in a remand center at the end of April 2022. On July 8, the Meshchansky District Court in Moscow sentenced Gorinov to seven years in a penal colony. He was also banned from holding public office for four years. Gorinov pleaded not guilty and insisted that he express his personal opinion during the Mundeps discussion.
In September 2022, the Moscow City Court reduced the politician’s sentence by one month. EU Delegation to Russia before the meeting Express support for Gorinov and expressed regret for his persecution.
Oppositionist Ilya Yashin* – 8.5 years old
Yuri Kochetkov / EPA / TASS
Yashin* was a witness in the Aleksey Gorinov case and, in July 2022, he himself was implicated in a criminal case for spreading “false information” about the Russian army “motivated by political hatred” (clause “d” part 2 of article 207.3 of the Penal Code).
Previously, the politician had been arrested for disobeying the police and four protocols had been drawn up against him under the article on the “discrediting” of the Russian army. Yashin* claimed that he was thus pressured to leave Russia.
The reason for opening a criminal case was that Yashin*, during a live broadcast on his YouTube channel, spoke about the killings of civilians in Ukrainian Bucha. At the same time, according to the prosecution, he was “surely aware” that these data were “a provocation of the Kiev regime”.
The prosecutor demanded Yashin* nine years in prison. In December 2022, the Meshchansky District Court sentenced him to 8.5 years in a penal colony. At that time, it was the longest term in the article about “fakes” about the Russian army.
Dmitry Ivanov, author of the Protest MGU telegram channel — 8.5 years old
Dmitry Lebedev / Kommersant
A former student of the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University was arrested in June 2022 due to his publications on the events in Mariupol, Bucha and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Ivanov was accused of “undermining the authority of the Russian military and instilling a sense of alarm and anxiety in an unlimited circle of people”. The prosecutor asked to sentence the activist to nine years in prison.
In March 2023, the Timiryazevsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Ivanov to 8.5 years in a penal colony, finding him guilty of spreading false stories about the Russian military based on political hatred (paragraphs b, e, part 2 of article 207.3 of the Penal Code).
Journalist Alexander Nevzorov* and blogger Veronika Belotserkovskaya* – 8 and 9 years old
Alexander Koryakov / Kommersant
Nevzorov* and Belotserkovskaya* became accused in bogus cases involving the Russian military a month after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. In May, both were put on the wanted list because they are outside Russia.
Nevzorov* was accused of posting deliberately false information on his YouTube channel about the deliberate shelling of a maternity ward in Mariupol by Russian troops, along with “inaccurate photos of injured civilians”. The Russian Defense Ministry called the “strike” against maternity a “completely staged provocation” by Ukraine.
Nika Belotserkovskaya*, according to investigators, “under the guise of reliable reports, they contained deliberately false information about the use of Russian armed forces to destroy cities and the civilian population of Ukraine, including children, during a special military operation on the territory of that state.”
In February 2023, the Basmanny Court in Moscow sentenced Nevzorov* in absentia* to eight years in a penal colony, and Belotserkovskaya* to nine years.
*recognized by the Ministry of Justice of Russia as a foreign agent
** owned by Meta, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia
Read the Latest Ukraine War News on The Eastern Herald.
