A Moscow court has sentenced opposition politician Ilya Yashin to 8 1/2 years in prison on a charge of spreading false information about the Russian military amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The Meshchansky district court pronounced the decision on December 9.
Yashin, 39, is an outspoken Kremlin critic and one of the few prominent opposition politicians still in Russia after a wave of repression against supporters of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and people who have spoken out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The sentence is the harshest handed down in cases of people charged with discrediting Russia's armed forces since a new law was introduced days after the Kremlin launched the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February.
The case against Yashin was launched in July. The charge against him stems from his YouTube posts about alleged crimes committed by the Russian military in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
Yashin has been arrested many times in the past for his protest activities.
In his final testimony at the trial on December 5, Yashin said, "I do not regret anything."
"I could run away, I could keep silent. But I was doing what I had to do. It is better to spend 10 years behind bars than to feel ashamed for what is being conducted in your name," Yashin said.
Yashin has said that the authorities were trying to force him to leave Russia, which he refused to do.
Navalny condemned Yashin's sentencing, calling it "lawless."
"Another shameless and lawless verdict by Putin's court will not silence Ilya and should not intimidate the honest people of Russia. This is yet another reason why we need to keep fighting, and I have no doubt we will ultimately win," Navalny said on Twitter.