Russian man sentenced to 2.5 years for praising terrorist attack on New Zealand mosques and calling for armed coup

A 47-year-old man from Omsk has been sentenced to 2.5 years in a Russian prison colony on charges of justifying terrorism and publicly calling for extremist acts. He will also be barred from writing anything on the Internet for 2.5 years. The FSB’s branch for the Omsk region initially told Interfax about the sentence.

The defendant, who worked as a taxi driver, wrote an online post praising the March 2019 mass murder in Christchurch that left 51 worshippers dead and 49 injured in two of the city’s mosques. He wrote that he “found the criminal’s acts to be necessary in relation to a separate social group of civilians.” He also called for an armed uprising intended to overthrow the Russian government.

The Omsk-based outlet Gorod55 wrote that the defendant pleaded guilty to all charges. He was removed from the courtroom under guard following his sentencing.