Sawt Falasteen - Kremlin critic Yashin loses appeal in widening crackdown

The former Moscow councillor's appeal was rejected as authorities take a crackdown on freedoms in Russia to an unprecedented new level, with independent media shut down and key opposition figures behind bars or in exile.

Speaking in court, Yashin said he had been put behind bars for "speaking the truth" over Moscow's actions in Ukraine and Russia.

"The sentence delivered against me is amazing: eight and a half years for a 20-minute speech on the internet," he said.

"In prison, I met murderers, rapists, and robbers who have received lesser sentences for their crimes."

- 'Bloody mess' -

Last year, Yashin, 39, described the murder of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha as a "massacre", referring to a town near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv where civilians were found killed after Russian forces pulled back.

In December 2022, Yashin was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for spreading "false information" about Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

He was tried under legislation that came into force after the start of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine to penalise what the authorities deem to be damaging or false information about the Russian military.

He appealed the verdict, but on Wednesday a judge at Moscow City Court said that "The verdict of the Moscow Meshchansky Court should be left unchanged".

Yashin remained defiant, saying in court that sooner or later "thieves and murderers" will be ousted from power and he would be among those who will build a new Russia.

"I realise that, once free, I will become one of those who will have to clean up this bloody mess," he said in court.

Since sending troops to Ukraine last February, Russia has intensified its crackdown on domestic critics, with almost all of the Kremlin's major opponents in exile or behind bars and top rights groups shut down.

- 'Society is intimidated'-

Oleg Orlov, the co-chair of the country's top human rights organisation Memorial, said the Russian authorities' campaign to cow opponents has been successful.

"Society is intimidated and prefers to remain silent," he told AFP.

Russia shut down Memorial just months before President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.

Alexei Navalny, Russia's top opposition politician, who used to mobilise massive protests against Putin's rule, is behind bars in what his supporters say is Moscow's punishment for challenging the Kremlin.

The 46-year-old is serving a nine-year prison sentence on embezzlement and other charges.

On Tuesday, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said authorities had opened a new criminal case against him, in a move that could see him face five more years in prison.

On Monday, a Russian court sentenced another Kremlin critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, to 25 years in a high security prison on treason and other charges for criticising the Ukraine assault.

In late March, Russia's security service, the FSB, detained US citizen Evan Gershkovich, a 31-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter, and charged him with espionage.

The former AFP reporter became the first foreign journalist to be detained on suspicion of espionage since the collapse of the Soviet Union. He and his publication have rejected the claims.

On Tuesday, his request for release on bail was turned down.

Q.Najjar--SF-PST