SAMARA, Russia -- A Russian court has convicted a youth activist of terrorism-related offenses for a social-media post praising the mass killing at a gay nightclub in Florida last year, but declined to sentence him to prison.
Prosecutors had recommended a three-year prison sentence for Ramil Ibragimov, who was found guilty of "public calls for terrorism and justifying terrorist activities" by a military court in the Volga River city of Samara on February 1.
The judge fined Ibragimov 50,000 rubles ($830) and ordered the confiscation of the mobile phone he used to make the post.
In the June 14 Instagram post, Ibragimov -- the head of Tatarstan's Union of Young Leaders of Innovations -- expressed support for the killing of people he referred to as "fags."
In vulgar language, he expressed regret that injured survivors of the attack "did not croak."
The post came two days after gunman Omar Mateen fatally shot 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Ibragimov acknowledged the post but pleaded not guilty.
