Sergei Mikhailov was arrested in 2022 after publishing stories about civilian deaths in Bucha and Mariupol.
A court docket in Russia has sentenced journalist Sergei Mikhailov to eight years in jail for “deliberately spreading false data” concerning the Russian military, a human rights group confirmed.
Prosecutors in Gorno-Altaysk, a metropolis within the southern Altay area that lies within the foothills of the Altai Mountains, mentioned the 48-year-old was motivated by “political hatred,” Internet Freedoms Venture mentioned on Friday on its Telegram channel.
The court docket additionally imposed a four-year ban on the reporter’s journalistic and publishing actions, it added.
Mikhailov, a journalist and editor at Listok, was arrested in 2022 close to Moscow for posting on the publication’s Telegram channel and web site concerning the homicide of civilians in Bucha, northwest of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, and about Russian shelling and killings within the southeastern metropolis of Mariupol.
The occasions in each Ukrainian cities got here to signify the worst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rights teams have mentioned.
The journalist denies any wrongdoing and his defence is anticipated to take the stand subsequent week, based on Internet Freedoms Venture.
Earlier this week, Mikhailov instructed the court docket that he stood by his reporting and harshly criticised the Kremlin for sending troops to Ukraine.
He mentioned the Russian state narrative of calling the Ukrainian management “fascist” had “created a complete digital universe within the data area, and this fog grew to become stronger and stronger”.
“My publications have been aimed in opposition to this fog, in order that my readers weren’t seduced by lies, in order that they don’t participate in armed conflicts, don’t change into murderers and victims and in order that they don’t hurt the brotherly Ukrainian individuals,” Mikhailov mentioned, in an audio of the speech revealed by Listok on social media.
Mikhailov was arrested began quickly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Whereas President Vladimir Putin has been tightening Russia’s grip on media freedoms and freedom of expression over the previous decade, repression and a crackdown on dissent have intensified dramatically for the reason that begin of the battle, watchdogs say.
Three months after the invasion, Putin expanded laws in opposition to “overseas brokers” to incorporate nonprofit organisations, media retailers, journalists and activists. This meant that organisations receiving any overseas help – together with any donations or different funding – may very well be designated as overseas brokers.
In 2023, Putin pushed for battle censorship legal guidelines criminalising anybody who may very well be accused of discrediting the Russian armed forces or sharing details about their conduct that doesn’t subscribe to the federal government line. These accused of breaching these legal guidelines may very well be jailed for as much as 15 years.
With state censorship ensuing within the closure of a number of impartial media retailers and the persecution of outstanding journalists, lots of of reporters have fled into exile. Others have remained in Russia at nice price.
According to human rights group OVD-Info, greater than 1,000 individuals at the moment are defending themselves in legal circumstances initiated due to their criticism of the Ukraine battle.
