Cassation court upholds Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin’s sentence for ‘fakes’ about Russian army

Russia’s Second Cassation Court has upheld the sentence of opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who was given eight and a half years in prison for spreading “fakes” about the Russian army, reports Sota.

The politician’s defense argued that the information for which he was sentenced cannot be considered “fake” as he only recounted the opinions of both the Russian and Ukrainian sides about the events in Bucha. The lawyers also emphasized that the “falsity” of the information spread by Yashin was not proven.

In court, Yashin spoke out against Russia’s actions in Ukraine, referring to the situation as a “war.” To this, the presiding judge demanded, “Call the special military operation that, not what you referred to it as.”

Yashin was sentenced in December 2022 for a livestream in which he talked about the Bucha massacre.