Moscow court sentences Ukrainian mayor in absentia to prison for advocating ‘killing these subhumans worldwide’ in response to Bucha massacre

A court in Moscow has sentenced Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov in absentia to nine years in prison for writing about Russian war atrocities in Bucha and inciting ethnic hatred against Russians. Journalists at Mediazona first reported the verdict, which cites a post on social media shared in April 2022. 

Spokespeople for Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee say Filatov was charged after “calling for the killing of Russians around the world.”

On April 3, 2022, after Ukrainian troops regained control of the city of Bucha outside Kyiv and journalists started sharing photos of civilians killed during the Russian occupation, Dnipro Mayor Filatov wrote on Facebook and Telegram, “I see how hatred is overwhelming all of us after what these subhumans did outside Kyiv […]. The time has come for icy wrath. Now, we have the full moral right, calmly and with a completely unclouded mind, to kill these subhumans all over the world.” Pro-invasion bloggers in Russia promptly reported these remarks to the police. (Filatov’s post has since disappeared from social media.)