IVANO-FRANKIVSK, Ukraine -- A court in Ukraine has sentenced a blogger to prison who had urged conscientious objectors not to fight against Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east.
The Ivano-Frankivsk City Court in western Ukraine found Ruslan Kotsaba, 49, guilty of obstructing the country’s armed forces on May 12 and sentenced him to 3 1/2 years in jail.
The judge ruled that the time Kotsaba spent in pretrial detention since his arrest in February 2015 must be counted as "one day for two." Therefore, it is considered that Kotsaba has already served two years, six months, and eight days of his sentence.
Kotsaba was arrested after he posted a 12-minute video urging people to dodge the military draft. The clip was viewed more than 300,000 times.
Kotsaba's lawyer, Ihor Sulyma, told RFE/RL that his client's sentence will be appealed.
