A Russian court on Friday sentenced a Russian singer, Edouard Charlot, to five and a half years in prison for criticizing the offensive against Ukraine in videos posted online.
The Court of Samara, on the Volga, hometown of this 26-year-old young man, found him guilty of “public insult to the religious feelings of believers” and “rehabilitation of Nazism”, reported the agency state press RIA Novosti.
This singer, popular among young people, published a video in June 2023 in which he burned his Russian passport, as a sign of protest against the Russian offensive in Ukraine. In other videos, he tore an orange and black striped ribbon in the shape of a “Z”, the symbol of the Russian armed forces, or nailed to a crucifix a photograph of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supported the offensive.
After the start of the conflict in 2022, the young man left Russia for Armenia, but then returned and was arrested in November 2023 upon arrival at St. Petersburg airport. During the trial, he pleaded guilty and repented of his actions.
Since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, thousands of Russians have been sanctioned, threatened or imprisoned because of their opposition to the conflict. Trials for “terrorism”, “sabotage”, “treason” or “espionage” have also multiplied, with very heavy sentences in most cases.
Almost all of the major opponents are behind bars or in exile abroad, the movement having lost its figurehead, Alexeï Navalny, in February, who died in prison in murky circumstances.
