Russian Anti-War Activist Sentenced To Six Years In Prison For Internet Posts

MicroWave@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 502 points – Russian Anti-War Activist Sentenced To Six Years In Prison For Internet Posts
rferl.org

A court in the Russian city of St. Petersburg sentenced anti-war activist Olga Smirnova to six years in prison on August 30 on a charge of spreading fake news about the armed forces. Smirnova was also banned from administering websites for three years. Prosecutors asked for a seven-year sentence.

The 54-year-old activist of the Peaceful Resistance movement was arrested in May 2022. Investigators say she placed materials about Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine on the Internet that contradicted official Defense Ministry statements.

Smirnova pleaded not guilty, and her lawyers say they intend to appeal the decision.

23

Not important, but she’s 54?! With slightly more modern glasses and hair she could pass as 24!

Six years is nothing for someone that doesn't age, hence the smile.

I was a little confused by the smile too, assuming she was no older than 30. Losing 6 years of your youth seems harder than 6 years in your 50s. Although it depends on the conditions she’s kept in.

If you go into the article, there is a little caption in the corner of the image that says "Social Media". So I guess this picture was from before her arrest?

Fr I didn't even notice until you said it and I read the text afterwards.

Here's hoping they assassinate Putin soon.

Sadly there’s no guarantee that whoever would replace him would be better.

The question then is what kind of Russia will we get when the dust settles?

I don't know. But at this point things I'm not seeing a civil way out of the current situation.

Another day in Russia, another sane person gets arrested for going against the insanity

Weird, I thought we were living in a literal 1984 dictatorship. Did they forget to tell Putin?