Administrator of pro-Russian Telegram channel sentenced in absentia in Kharkiv

A 55-year-old man who administered a pro-Russian Telegram channel and supported the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine was sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.

He published anti-Ukrainian posts, including videos in which he supported the accession of Kharkiv to Russia, spread communist symbols and denied the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.

The man published texts in which he repeated the statements of Kremlin propaganda: he claimed that the footage from The Russian army killed civilians in Buchi is a “set-up”, distorted the facts, expressed contempt for the political leadership of Ukraine and said that “Nazis rule Ukraine”.

The accused assured readers that it was the Ukrainian military who were shelling the civilian population, “recalling” the “shellings of Donbas” and the so-called “alley of angels” in temporarily occupied Donetsk. “Collective West”, “biological weapons”, which is allegedly stored in “the dungeons of Azovstal”, “Anglo-Saxons” and other already established phrases of Russian propagandists — the man actively used all these theses when writing his texts, passing them off as “historical truth”, – the prosecutor's office told.

Forensic examination confirmed the illegal nature of his statements.

The convicted person is absconding from justice and is wanted. The term of serving the sentence will begin to be calculated from the moment of actual detention.