A Russian court in Moscow sentenced President Vladimir Putin’s critic, Ilya Yashin to eight years and six months imprisonment on Friday.
Russian accused Yashin of a criminal offence due to his statements about the killings in Bucha, a Ukrainian city.
CNN reported that Yashin slammed the “authors” of the “hysterical verdict” in a post on his official Telegram account.
“The authors of the verdict are optimistic about Putin’s prospects. In my opinion, they are too optimistic,” Yashin said.
The 39-year-old Putin’s staunch critic said he was punished for speaking the truth about war crimes.
“But we also have no reason to be sad, because we have won this trial, friends. The process started as a denunciation of me as a “people’s doctor,” but turned into an anti-war tribune.
“We spoke the truth about war crimes and called for an end to the bloodshed. And in response, they heard a hodgepodge of slogans from the Cold War, which was confusedly voiced by the prosecutor,” Yashin continued.
“With this hysterical verdict, the government wants to intimidate us all, but in fact, it only shows its weakness.
“Strong leaders are calm and self-confident, and only weaklings seek to shut everyone up, burn out any dissent. So today it only remains for me to repeat what was said on the day of my arrest: I am not afraid, and you should not be,” he added.
(Vanguard)