Crimea man sentenced to 2.5 years behind bars for calling his army relative ‘war criminal’

A court in Alushta, Crimea has sentenced local resident Alexander Tarapon, 31, to 2.5 years behind bars under Russia’s “fake news” law, the Net Freedoms Project reports.

According to the investigation, Tarapon printed out leaflets about the war in Ukraine at home and put them in people’s mailboxes. He also posted them around the city. According to Net Freedoms Project, the leaflets showed a photograph of his brother-in-law, army officer Yury Orlenko, signed “Var Criminal” (alluding to the letter V, a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine — translator’s note).

“When he [the accused] found out that his acquaintance, a law enforcement officer, is currently serving in the special operation zone, he posted defamatory stickers on his house, too,” the Investigative Committee reports.

Attorney Rifat Yakhin thinks that the court chose the punishment taking into account that Tarapon has an outstanding conviction.

In early October, the prosecution in Russia’s Smolensk requested six years in prison for local entrepreneur Vladimir Zavyalov, accused of spreading “fake information” about the Russian army. According to the investigation, in April 2022, Zavyalov changed price tags at a local supermarket with anti-war leaflets.