Alexei Gorinov, the first man to be jailed under Russia’s war censorship laws, was sentenced to three more years in a penal colony on Friday after being found guilty on new charges of “justifying terrorism.”
“The third year of the war is ending, the third year of victims and destruction on European territory unseen since World War Two, the deprivation and suffering of millions of people. We cannot remain silent about this,” he said.
Dissent
Public protest against the war is rare in Russia, which has cracked down on any opposition to the Kremlin’s policies with lengthy prison sentences. But dissidents such as the late Alexei Navalny have used their right to speak in court as an opportunity to express dissent.
Like Navalny, who died suddenly in a penal colony in February, Gorinov has had one sentence stacked on top of another based on a crime allegedly committed while already in prison.