Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Golinov was again found guilty on Friday of opposing Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and sentenced to three years in prison.
The three-day trial of Golinov once again demonstrated Russia's intolerance of dissent.
Golinov, 63, is a former member of the Moscow City Council and is already serving a seven-year prison sentence for his public criticism of the invasion. Associated Press.
A court in Russia's Vladimir region ordered Golinov to serve a total of five years in a maximum-security prison, taking into account his previous convictions and sentences. Mediazona, an independent Russian news site, cited Golinov's lawyer as saying that the new sentence means Golinov will spend an additional year in prison compared to his previous sentence.
Golinov was first convicted in July 2022, when a Moscow court sentenced him to seven years in prison for “spreading false information” about the Russian military before the city council. Mr Golinov was accused of expressing skepticism about a children's art competition in his constituency and saying that “children die every day” in Ukraine.
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On Friday, November 29, 2024 in Vladimir, Russia, imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Golinov stands in a courtroom cage as his second trial for criticizing Russia's actions in Ukraine quickly concludes. Stand inside. (AP)
He was the first known Russian to be imprisoned under a 2022 law that essentially bans any public statements about the war that deviate from the Kremlin's narrative.
In March 2023, Golinov told the Associated Press from prison: “The authorities needed an example who could show others what a private person is, not a public figure.”
Authorities filed a second case against Golinov last year, his supporters said. He said he was “justifying terrorism” by talking with his cellmates about Ukraine's Azov Battalion, which Russia has outlawed as a terrorist organization, and the 2022 Crimean bridge explosion, which the Russian government deemed an act of terrorism. be done.
On Wednesday, Golinov denied the allegations against him, saying annexed Crimea is Ukrainian territory and only referred to Azov as part of the Ukrainian military, according to independent news site Mediazona. It was reported that.
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Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Golinov stands in a courtroom cage as his second trial for criticizing Russia's actions in Ukraine quickly approaches its conclusion in Vladimir, Russia, Friday, November 29, 2024. sit inside. (AP)
His trial began on Wednesday in the Vladimir region, where he is serving a sentence for a previous conviction. Courtroom photos published by Mediazona show Golinov in his cage holding a hand-drawn peace symbol on a piece of paper covering a prisoner's badge and a handwritten note reading “Stop the murder. Stop the war.” He was pictured holding up a placard.
“My crime, as a citizen of my country, was that I allowed this war to break out and was unable to stop it,” Golinov said in his final statement to the court, according to Mediazona newspaper.
“But I want the organizers, participants and supporters of the war, as well as those who persecute those who advocate peace, to share my guilt and responsibility,” Golinov added. “I continue to live in the hope that one day something like this will happen. In the meantime, I ask the people living in Ukraine and my compatriots who suffered in the war to forgive me. please.”
Kremlin critic Alexei Golinov, imprisoned for criticizing Russia's actions in Ukraine, is escorted to court in Vladimir, Russia, Friday, November 29, 2024, as the second trial of Alexei Golinov, imprisoned for criticizing Russia's actions in Ukraine, quickly approaches its conclusion. be done. (AP)
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About 1,100 people have been the subject of criminal cases over their anti-war stance since the war against Ukraine began in February 2022, according to OVD-Info, a prominent human rights group that tracks political arrests. Of these, nearly 350 are currently in prison or involuntarily admitted to medical facilities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
