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Russian blogger and activist Aleksei Kungurov (file photo)
Russian blogger and activist Aleksei Kungurov (file photo)

A Russian blogger has been convicted and imprisoned for a post harshly criticizing the government’s military operation in Syria that prosecutors say was sympathetic to terrorism.

A court in the central Tyumen region on December 20 found Aleksei Kungurov guilty of "publicly justifying terrorism" for the blog post -- published shortly after Russia's intervention in Syria began last year -- and sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in a penal colony.

The conviction is the latest in a series of prosecutions in Russia targeting bloggers and social media users in what rights watchdogs call an escalating crackdown on free speech online.

Kungurov, an activist who has been involved with strident nationalist and anti-Western groups, argued in the October 2015 post that the extremist group Islamic State (IS), which is banned in Russia, had characteristics of an actual government.

He also asserted that President Vladimir Putin's intervention was aimed primarily at propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and not, as the Kremlin has said, defeating IS militants and other "terrorists" in the country.

The SOVA Center, a Moscow-based think tank that monitors xenophobia and extremism, has said there was nothing illegal in Kungurov's post, while the Russian rights group Memorial has included Kungurov in its list of "political prisoners."

Kungurov's lawyer said his defense plans to appeal the verdict, Russia's RBK newspaper reported.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Znak.com, RIA Novosti, and rbc.ru
Ukrainain Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya
Ukrainain Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya

The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution that recognizes Crimea as "temporarily occupied" by Russia and condemns the "abuses" and "discrimination" against Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians, and other groups on the peninsula.

The General Assembly vote on December 19 was 70 in favor and 26 against the resolution, with 77 countries abstaining.

The resolution also calls on Russia, as an "occupying power," to end all abuses against people living in Crimea, including arbitrary detentions, torture, and other "cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment."

Serhiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, said in a statement after the General Assembly's vote that the human rights situation on Crimea had "deteriorated sharply" since Russian forces took control of the Ukrainian territory in February 2014 and illegally annexed it.

Kyslytsya noted that the latest report on Crimea by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, released on December 8, described the situation since Russia took control as a "climate of repression against dissenting voices."

The General Assembly resolution was first approved by the UN's human rights committee on November 15.

Russia had lobbied against the resolution, calling it "politically motivated" and "one-sided."


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"Watchdog" is a blog with a singular mission -- to monitor the latest developments concerning human rights, civil society, and press freedom. We'll pay particular attention to reports concerning countries in RFE/RL's broadcast region.

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