Moscow’s Meshchansky district court has found politician Ilya Yashin guilty of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army (paragraph “E” of part 2 of Article 207.3 of Russia’s Criminal Code), reported state-owned news agency TASS, citing its courtroom correspondent. Yashin was put on trial for broadcasting a YouTube stream about the Russian military's crimes in Bucha, which he hosted in April.
A Russian state prosecutor has petitioned the court to sentence Yashin to 9 years in a “general regime” (minimal security) penal colony, adding that the politician be prohibited from using the Internet for four more years after serving his sentence.
Earlier, the prosecutor had requested 9 years in a minimum-security penal colony for Yashin. On December 6, during a court hearing, he said that the politician had been influenced by foreign television and had used information from “unfriendly associations” as evidence of atrocities by Russian soldiers:
“Contrary to the arguments of the defense, Yashin did not simply broadcast the position of foreign television channels, <...> but cited media reports from unfriendly countries to substantiate his claims. <...> At the same time, these documents have no legal force, but are only unilateral recent conclusions made on behalf of international organizations of countries that are members of such – to put it mildly – unfriendly associations as NATO and the European Union.”
