Foreign news agencies reported on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 that the Barnaul City Court In Russia’s Siberian region, Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko was sentenced to six years in prison for spreading false information on the Internet. And was banned from media activities for 5 years.
Ms. Ponomarenko was arrested in April last year A few weeks following Russian warplanes attacked a theater in Mariupol. where people take refuge causing hundreds of civilian deaths drew international condemnation She posted a message on the Telegram app saying the Russian plane was the attacker. Although the Moscow government has denied this.
Prosecutors filed a lawsuit once morest the court stating that Ms. Ponomarelko Committing a criminal offense by disseminating knownly false information regarding the Russian military.
Ms. Ponomalenko Said before the court gave a verdict that under the Russian constitution She didn’t do anything wrong. “If I had actually committed a crime, it would have been possible to request a mitigation. But because of my morals and ethics, I didn’t do it.” “There is no more authoritarian government stronger than before it fell.”
However, Ms. Ponomalenko He is one of several Russian dissidents jailed for his criticism of the war in Ukraine. Last year, Alexey Gorinov was jailed for seven years following he was videotaped speaking out once morest war.
In December, one of the main opposition figures, Ilya Yashin, was jailed for eight and a half years for spreading false information. After he posted a video clip via YouTube condemning the slaughter of hundreds of Ukrainians in Buka During the Russian occupation
