TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Russia on Thursday sentenced a prominent lawyer to seven years in prison for speaking out on social media against the war in Ukraine, a Russian human rights group said.
The verdict in the case of Dmitry Talantov, who once chaired a regional association of lawyers in Russia’s central republic of Udmurtia, is the latest in the Kremlin’s continued crackdown on dissent after it deployed troops to Ukraine in February 2022 had sent. Talantov is one of dozens of Russians arrested under a law passed just over a week after the invasion that essentially bans any public statement about the war that differs from the official narrative.
OVD-Info, a Russian rights organization that tracks political arrests and provides legal assistance, reported Thursday that Talantov was charged with inciting hatred and “spreading false information” about the military – something that had become a criminal offense under the 2022 law – for several posts on social media condemning the Russian attack on Ukraine. The lawyer, 63, was arrested in June 2022 and spent more than two years behind bars.
Trusted news and daily treats, straight to your inbox
See for yourself: The Yodel is the source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
He has dismissed the charges against him and OVD-Info quoted him in a letter from detention: “I once looked at a photo of a mutilated Ukrainian woman and decided that I can no longer remain silent. But I remained a lawyer. I have published my opinion in a manner that does not conflict with formalist law. And you know what? It is not my problem that a normal action is perceived as a crime by someone.”
On Thursday, a court in the city of Zavyalovo in Udmurtia, a region about 900 kilometers east of Moscow, found Talantov guilty and sentenced him to seven years in prison, OVD-Info reported.
According to the group’s data, about 1,100 people have been involved in criminal cases because of their anti-war stance as of February 2022. A total of 340 of them are currently behind bars or involuntarily admitted to medical institutions.
Before his arrest, Talantov was chairman of the Udmurtia Chamber of Lawyers for a long time. He was also part of the team that defended former journalist Ivan Safronov, who was accused of treason in a case widely seen as retaliation for his reporting on military incidents and shady arms deals. Safronov was sentenced to 22 years in prison in September 2022.
