Russia: Journalist criticizing Ukraine’s invasion sentenced to 7 Years in Prison · Global Voices

Russian journalist was sentenced to seven years in prison for criticizing her attack on . This is 51-year-old Roman Ivanov, who worked in “RusNews”. Russian journalist and blogger, Roman Ivanov, was sentenced Wednesday (06.03.2024) to a seven-year prison sentence because in a message to social media he criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he refers to an announcement by the workers of the media “RusNews” in which he was working. Court of the small town of Karoliov, located 6 km northwest of Moscow, found the age of 51 Ivanov guilty “for spreading false information” about the Russian army, reports a post of “RusNews” on Telegram. The prosecutor had asked for an 8-year prison sentence. The journalist on his personal channel on Telegram had written in a post about the civilian killings in Bucha, citing a relevant UN report and articles from The New York Times. In another post Ivanov had reported on Russian missile attacks in Ukraine. In court, as mediazona writes, some 50 people came to declare their support for the 51-year-old journalist. A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced journalist Roman Ivanov to seven years in priority for criticalizing the war in Ukraine on social media. Read more here: — The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) Immediately after the verdict was announced, his supporters in the courtrooms shouted: “Roma (abbreviation of Roman), we are with you. You are not alone”, according to a journalist from the French agency AFP who was in court. Kneel down and apologize to the Ukrainians His mother, Ala Ivanova, who interviewed the press, rushed to denounce the ‘constructed’ charge. “He fought for people, he helped them,” he said. Ivanov did not admit his guilt. “ I am a journalist and my duty is to provide information to readers. And that’s what I provide. Whether they undermine or undermine the authority of the military, this is up to the man himself, who takes the information and analyzes it,” Ivanov told one of the court’s meetings. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, hundreds of journalists and media workers were forced to leave Russia, while 15 journalists have been arrested. During his apology the Russian journalist kneeled and apologized to Ukrainian citizens. “I want to apologize to all Ukrainians, to whom our country caused grief,” Ivanov said.