In Russia, the court sentenced the former leader of the so-called "DPR" militants Igor Strelkov (Girkin) for "calls to extremism". He was sentenced to four years in prison.
This was reported by the Russian publication Mediazona from the courtroom.
Also, Strelkov was banned from administering websites for three years.
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The prosecution requested that Strelkov be sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison. The maximum penalty under its article is five years of imprisonment.
The investigation claimed that the case against Girkin was opened for posts on the Telegram channel, which related to Crimea and payments to the occupiers from the "DPR", although he openly criticized Putin and military commanders and assumed that he would be imprisoned for this.
- Igor Strelkov is a Russian military man, blogger, retired officer, former FSB colonel, head of the terrorist group "Novorossiya" since 2014 and former leader of the terrorist pro-Russian military group "Peopleʼs Militia of Donbas". The SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine filed charges against Girkin for terrorism, violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, torture and intentional murder. In 2019, the Netherlands placed Girkin on an international wanted list as a person involved in the downing of flight MH-17.
- On November 17, 2022, the District Court of The Hague, which considered the case of the downing of the airliner MH17, found Igor Girkin (call sign "Strelkov"), his subordinates Sergey Dubinsky (call sign "Khmury") and Leonid Kharchenko (call sign "Krot") guilty of destroying the flight. Oleg Pulatov (call sign "Gyurza") was acquitted.
- On October 16, 2022, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced a reward of $100,000 for the handover of Girkin to Ukrainian captivity.
- On July 21, 2023, Igor Girkin was detained in Moscow. He was charged with public calls for extremist activities. Before that, he criticized the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and Russian military commanders. On the same day, Girkin was sent to the pre-trial detention center.