Moscow nurse sentenced to 8 years in prison for anti-war posts

Moscow nurse sentenced to 8 years in prison for anti-war posts

A court in Moscow on Thursday sentenced a 59-year-old nurse was sentenced to eight years in prison for social media posts against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Olga Menshikh was accused of spreading “false” information about the military with two VKontakte posts detailing Russian attacks on Vinnytsia in Ukraine that killed 28 people in July 2022 and Russian troops’ mass atrocities against civilians in the country Kiev suburb Bucha condemned.

Menshikh denied her guilt. Mediazona reported she had 15 followers and that her account may have been hacked.

Moscow’s Dorogimolovsky District Court found Menshikh guilty of spreading “fake news” about the Russian military’s actions abroad and sentenced her to eight years in a prison colony.

Menshikh was a nurse anesthetist at the Pirogov National and Medical Surgical Center, where she treated wounded Russian soldiers in Ukraine, according to Mediazona.

The medium said Menshikh faced multiple administrative arrests and fines over anti-war posts on social media and her support for late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Russia has been cracking down on anti-war protests, the independent press and social media platforms since its so-called “special military operation” began in Ukraine in 2022.

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