Defiant to the end, the 39-year-old, who has been declared a foreign agent by the state, felt no malice against the court handed down his hefty sentence
This past Friday in Moscow, opposition lawmaker Ilya Yashin, one of the few remaining Russians willing to speak out against Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
The 39-year-old will then be prohibited from posting anything online for an additional four years. The judge informed him that he will be able to get his iPhone 11 thereafter.
Yashin praised the woman from his glass prison. “I enjoy your humor,” he added with a smile.
The verdict is hardly unexpected. Yashin, who is considered a foreign agent in Russia, addressed the judge in an impassioned final argument on Monday, stating that she knew he was innocent and that he was aware of the pressures the system placed on her.
He stated that he bore her no ill will for the inevitable guilty verdict. “However, it is preferable to spend ten years in prison as an honest man than to quietly burn with guilt for the blood your country sheds.”
His biggest fault in the eyes of the authorities was broadcasting a video on his YouTube account exposing the Russian army’s alleged crimes in Bucha, a city in Ukraine, to his roughly 1.4 million followers.
However, the lengthy verdict, delivered in the sped-up monotone typical of all Russian judges, provided a comprehensive summary of the numerous criticisms Yashin has made online and in person against President Putin, the regime’s pernicious use of propaganda, and what Yashin has termed this “monstrous war.”
Yashin, a friend and political ally of Alexei Navalny, is the most prominent individual to be convicted under the slew of fake news laws adopted in March following the invasion of Ukraine.
According to the human rights organization OVD-Info, 366 individuals have been fined or imprisoned to date for allegedly disparaging the Russian military.
The father of Yashin covered his face with his hands when the decision was delivered. Outside the courthouse, he told, “we won’t break, and neither will he.”
A tiny group of supporters yelled “Russia will be free,” the customary slogan during anti-Putin protests, the majority of which were led by Yashin and Navalny.
At a news conference in Bishkek, Putin was questioned about Yashin’s punishment. He replied, “Who is he?” and added that he did not believe it was appropriate to dispute judicial decisions.
