Kremlin critic jailed for three more years over Ukraine war opposition
Alexei Gorinov, a Moscow councillor imprisoned for speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine, has been sentenced to an additional three years in prison.
Gorinov, 63, was initially sentenced to seven years in 2022 after being filmed criticizing the invasion during a city council meeting. At that time, he was believed to be the first individual to be prosecuted under new laws targeting dissent following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
On Friday, Gorinov appeared in court in Vladimir, where he was convicted on charges of “justifying terrorism.” The judge also ordered his transfer to a more restrictive prison facility.
The additional three-year sentence stems from a second case in which Gorinov is accused of criticizing Russia’s military actions while in a prison hospital. Prosecutors allege that last winter, Gorinov tried to influence fellow inmates with what they described as “terrorist ideology.”
Gorinov’s defense claims that authorities deliberately placed him with notorious criminals, including a convicted robber and rapist, who allegedly recorded their conversations.
“I am for peace, and you like war,” Gorinov said after the sentence was handed down, according to Mediazona.
Gorinov also called for Russia to end its almost three-year offensive and asked Ukrainians for forgiveness.
“Let’s stop this slaughter that nobody needs – not us, not the citizens of Ukraine,” he said.
“The guilt that I have is that I, as a citizen of my country, let this war happen and was not able to stop it.”
The opposition councillor was arrested in late April 2022, more than a month after he addressed a district meeting in the Krasnoselsky area of north-east Moscow.
At the meeting Gorinov objected to the idea of a children’s drawing contest being held when children were dying in Ukraine.
He had also tried to start the council meeting with a moment’s silence to remember the victims.
Another opposition councillor who supported his remarks has since fled Russia.