Russia: Five years in prison for a professor who criticizes the government

Originally sentenced in December 2023 to a fine of around €6,160, Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (HSE) professor Boris Kagarlitsky had that sentence commuted to five years’ imprisonment during an appeal process in a military court in the Moscow region. He was immediately arrested after the hearing.

The Military Court of Appeal decided to “cancel the decision of the court of first instance and sentence Kagarlitsky to a real punishment of 5 years in prison in a general regime colony,” the political scientist’s lawyer Sergei told the press. official agency TASS.

Charged with “public calls for terrorist activities using the Internet”

Boris Kagarlitsky is the author of numerous publications and studies on the left-wing political movement in Russia and the world. Accused of “public calls for terrorist activities using the Internet” and placed in pre-trial detention in July 2023, the 65-year-old political scientist has always denied all accusations against him. In December, the Western District Military Court found him “guilty” but sentenced him to a fine.

Already in May 2022, Boris Kagarlitsky was declared a “foreign agent” in Russia after the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine in February of that year.

Since the Russian offensive began in Ukraine and laws were passed banning any critical speech, several independent Russian media outlets have been forced to suspend their activities or leave the country, and many opponents have gone into exile or been jailed.