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Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was Friday sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for spreading “false information” after he criticized Russia’s army for the massacre of Ukrainian civilians.
![Russian opposition leader, former Moscow's municipal deputy Ilya Yashin gestures in a defendants' glass cage prior to a verdict hearing at the Meshchansky district court in Moscow, Russia, December 9, 2022. Prosecution requested nine years in prison for Yashin for spreading fake information about the Russian army.](https://img.semafor.com/afdf80888e501d79f7b7c709f2ac0d8b9709b5c4-5370x3558.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=format)
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In a YouTube video posted in April, Yashin denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and said the Russian military was responsible for the massacre of civilians in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv.
Yashin was tried for violating a recent law that prohibits Russians from criticizing or sharing false information about the country’s military.
He was initially fined 90,000 rubles ($1,400) in May for the comments made during a livestream, according to a July report in Russian state-affiliated news agency TASS. The prominent Kremlin critic was then arrested in July for spreading false information “based on political hatred,” TASS wrote.
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Quoteworthy
Speaking in court at the sentencing, Yashin said: “As if they will sew my mouth shut and I would be forbidden to speak forever. Everyone understands that this is the point.”