Opposition politician Ilya Yashin, the municipal deputy for Moscow’s Krasnoselsky district, has been arrested for allegedly spreading “fake news” about the Russian military, Mediazona reported. A judge at Moscow's Basmanny District Court granted prosecutors’ request for Yashin to be put in a remand prison until September 12.
The Russian authorities opened a criminal case against Yashin on July 12 in response to a YouTube livestream in which Yashin talked about Russian troops killing civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. Officers conducted a search of his home that night after bringing Yashin there from the detention center where he had been serving a 15-day sentence for allegedly disobeying police. After the search, Yashin was taken to a remand prison.
On July 13, Yashin was indicted for distributing “fake news about the army on the basis of political hatred.”
- Ilya Yashin was one of the only opposition politicians to have remained in Russia since the start of the war against Ukraine.
- In May, the Russian authorities filed four administrative offense reports against Yashin for “discrediting” the army.
- Two other deputies from the Krasnoselsky district have been charged with spreading “fake news” about the army: Alexey Gorinov and Yelena Kotenochkina. On July 8, Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison. Kotenochkina has left Russia.
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