A court in Russia convicted a former police officer of publicly spreading false information about the country’s military for criticizing the war in Ukraine to his friends over the phone.
The ex-officer, Semiel Vedel, was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison under a law the Kremlin adopted days after sending troops into Ukraine and has actively used to stifle dissent. In addition to the prison term, he was barred from working in law enforcement for four years after his release.
Officials deemed the conversations public because Vedel’s phone was wiretapped and an investigator listened in on the calls. That reasoning, which Vedel’s lawyer rejected as absurd, hadn’t been previously used in cases involving spreading misinformation charges. Earlier this month, a Russian court convicted a top political opposition figure, Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., of treason for publicly denouncing Moscow’s war in Ukraine. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
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