The human rights organization Amnesty International has called Dmitry Ivanov, the author of the “Protest Moscow State University” project, who was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in the “fake news” case, a prisoner of conscience.
“Dmitry Ivanov is a prisoner of conscience. He and all those who are being prosecuted or have already been convicted for criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine should be immediately and unconditionally released, and all charges against them dropped. Articles criminalizing criticism of Russia's invasion of Ukraine should be repealed as violating the right to freedom of expression,” said Natalia Zvyagina, director of Amnesty International in Russia.
On March 7, the Timiryazevsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Ivanov to eight and a half years in a penal colony. He was also banned from administering Internet resources for four years.
Here is how Ivanov's last word sounded in court:
“The investigation, trying to accuse me of spreading fakes, constructed one big fake. Literally the entire indictment, from the first to the last word, contradicts reality. I subscribe to every word that I wrote a year ago. All emotional assessments have retained their force, and each statement of facts has found many confirmations. So there can be no question of any sense of guilt in the present case. Life, however, is much more complicated than a fabricated criminal case.”
Ivanov was accused of spreading "fake news" about the Russian army because of the publication of the "Protest MGU" about the genocide in Bucha and Irpin, as well as for using the word "war".
Earlier it was reported that after one of the court sessions, Ivanov was beaten by a guard. The Sota project managed to establish his identity: he turned out to be police ensign Alexei Nikolaevich Zhalnin.