Moscow, Russia.- A Moscow court this Thursday sentenced two Russian poets to sentences of between five and a half and seven years in prison, who participated in a reading against the conflict in Ukraine.
Thousands of Russians, opponents or simple citizens, were convicted by courts for criticizing the offensive in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, sometimes with especially severe penalties.
According to an AFP journalist present at the hearing, supporters of Artiom Kagardin, 33, and Yegor Shtovba, 23, shouted “what a shame” when the decision was announced.
“It is absolutely arbitrary,” exclaimed Artiom Kagardin’s father, Yuri.
Several people were detained by the police in front of the court after the trial, the NGO OVD-Info also indicated.
Artiom Kamardin and Yegor Shtovba were arrested in September 2022 after participating in a public reading in Moscow near the monument to the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, a meeting point for dissidents since Soviet times.
In that reading, Kagardin recited a poem, “Kill me, militiaman,” very hostile to the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The next day he was arrested during a raid on his home, in which he claims that he was beaten and raped by the police with a weightlifting device.
The two poets were first accused of “inciting hatred”, and then also accused of “public calling to commit activities against the security of the State.”
“I am not a hero, and going to prison for what I think was never part of my plans,” Kagardin said in his closing argument in court, posted on Telegram by his supporters.
His wife, Alexandra Popova, told AFP she was outraged by the “very severe” sentence imposed on her husband. “Seven years for a poem, a non-violent crime…” she said.
Shtovba, sentenced to five and a half years, insisted during the trial that he did not break the law.
A third poet, Nikolai Daineko, detained at the same time as the first two, was in turn sentenced to four years in prison in May, according to OVD-info.
Russian power has been repressing critical voices for years, and the campaign has toughened since the start of the military campaign in Ukraine.
According to OVD-Info, nearly 20,000 people have been detained in Russia for their opposition to the Ukraine conflict since February 2022.
The NGO Memorial has 633 political prisoners behind bars.
Source: AFP
