A court in Kirov issued a sentence in absentia to the composer Prokhor Protasov, who spoke out against the war on social networks. According to Mediazona, he was found guilty of spreading "fake news" about the army and sentenced to five years in a penal colony.
The prosecution demanded that Protasov be given nine years. The reason for the criminal prosecution was the composer's posts about a missile attack on a shopping center in Kremenchuk and the massacres of Bucha residents. In August, his VKontakte page was blocked, and later the security forces came with a search to his parents. The musician himself was put on the federal wanted list.
Prokhor Protasov is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, in the past he worked as a conductor at the Vyatka Philharmonic. Author of the anthem of the city of Kirov. In 2018, he entered the master's program at the American Bard College and left for the United States, and after his studies he returned to Russia for a short time. Now Protasov lives in Toronto, Canada and is studying for a doctorate at a local university.