Moscow court rejects opposition politician Ilya Yashin’s appeal against prison sentence for speaking about Russian atrocities in Bucha

The Moscow City Court has rejected Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin’s appeal against his 8.5-year prison sentence for allegedly spreading “disinformation” about the Russian military, the independent outlet Mediazona reported on Wednesday.

Yashin’s sentence was handed down on December 9, 2022. On December 26, his lawyer reported that the Russian authorities had transferred him to a prison in Izhevsk, a city almost 800 miles from Moscow. He took part in Wednesday’s appeals hearing by video link.

The case against Yashin stems from a video livestream in which he spoke about the killings of Ukrainian civilians by Russian soldiers in Bucha. According to Russian state prosecutors, he distributed “disinformation” on the basis of “political hatred” despite “knowing” that Russia was taking measures to “support peace and safety” in Ukraine. Yashin, who openly opposed the war and refused to leave Russia from the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, pleaded not guilty.

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