THE NEW YORK TIMES: A court in Moscow on Friday sentenced an opposition lawmaker to seven years in prison for denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine, handing down the first prison term for what the government made a crime shortly after the invasion.
The sentence is likely to have a chilling effect on Russian society by further raising the stakes for anyone who publicly opposes the war that President Vladimir V. Putin began in late February. While thousands of people protested across Russia in the first weeks of the conflict, the dissent was quickly suppressed amid police violence and the passage of draconian laws that limited free speech.
The opposition lawmaker, Aleksei Gorinov, a municipal deputy in Moscow’s Krasnoselsky district, was found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian Army and its activities, the Tverskoy Court said in a statement on Friday. It said Mr. Gorinov had conspired with others and had used his public office to commit that crime. » | Ivan Nechepurenko and Alina Lobzina | Friday, July 8, 2022
