MOSCOW (Reuters) – A military court in St Petersburg jailed Soviet-era dissident and anti-war activist Alexander Skobov for 16 years on Friday after convicting him of “justifying terrorism,” the Prosecutor General’s office in St Petersburg said.
It said he had repeatedly posted information on social media “justifying carrying out terrorist acts, including calls to carry out illegal activity” and that he had taken part in the activities of a “terrorist organisation.”
Skobov, who was jailed in the Soviet Union for his opposition to the authorities, publicly condemned President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 and has repeatedly said that Moscow should return any territory it had taken during the conflict.
In a final statement to the court published by some Russian media outlets on Friday, Skobov was heard repeating his opposition to the war and to Putin.
Russian authorities have jailed outspoken critics of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, drawing fierce condemnation from Western human rights groups who say the crackdown amounts to a repressive clamp-down on free speech.
Russian officials accuse anti-war activists of trying to stir up trouble at a time when the country is facing what Putin has called an existential struggle with the West.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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