The Soviet city court of the Kaliningrad region sentenced 64-year-old local activist Igor Baryshnikov to 7.5 years in a penal colony on charges of spreading fake news about the army. It is reported by Sota with reference to lawyer Maria Bontsler.
In May 2022, Baryshnikov was searched as part of a case initiated under the first part of the article about “fakes” because of his Facebook posts about the shelling of a maternity hospital in Mariupol and the killings of Bucha residents. In June, another case was brought against him under the second part of the article about “fakes” because of posts that mentioned the sunken cruiser Moskva and the crimes of the Russian military in Ukraine. Then the two cases were merged. Baryshnikov was given a written undertaking not to leave.
In September 2022, the trial began. During the trial, Baryshnikov's health deteriorated and a suspicion of prostate cancer arose. A man has a cystostomy – a tube in the abdomen that goes to the bladder. Doctors insist that Baryshnikov should not be imprisoned. The man also takes care of his 97-year-old mother.
“I understand that I didn’t commit any crime: I didn’t kill anyone, I didn’t rob, I didn’t rape. Why should I run somewhere? And where do I run? How will I leave my own mother? She is absolutely helpless now, ”Baryshnikov said before the verdict.
