Russian activist sentenced to three years in prison for online posts, fears won’t survive term due to illness
A Russian court has sentenced human rights activist Gregory Winter to three years in prison for spreading “fake news” about the Russian army, reports the joint press service of Russia’s Vologda region courts. Winter has also been banned from administering websites for two years.
Winter was charged for a comment he made on the Russian social networking site VKontakte about civilian deaths in Bucha and for eight reposts about the Russian airstrike on Mariupol’s drama theater, where civilians were sheltering, reports human rights advocacy group OVD-Info.
Winter is diabetic, and he and his lawyers fear that he might not survive his prison term. On the eve of the verdict, Winter wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting to be allowed voluntary euthanasia if sentenced to prison. According to him, the prison colony won’t be able to give him the necessary medications for his illness, forcing him to die “a painful death among strangers, cruel and utterly indifferent people.”
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