A court in Kalmykia has sentenced Altan Ochirov, an activist and employee of the Elista administration, to three years in prison in the case of "fake news" about the army, according to the human rights project "Network Freedoms".
The prosecution requested that he be sentenced to seven years in prison.
The case was initiated due to posts on the Free Ulus Telegram channel about looting and losses of the Russian army, as well as a video about the Russian military shooting down a car with pensioners. According to investigators, Ochirov created and administered this channel from his computer.
The activist himself did not deny his involvement in the channel at the trial, but noted that these posts were published by other people. He also insists that all his publications in the channel are based on reliable sources.