Фото: Телеграм-канал Алексея Арестовича
A Russian court has handed down a verdict in absentia against former adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Oleksii Arestovych.
Russian media reported that Arestovych was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for calls for terrorism and spreading false information about the Russian army.
The court also banned him for four years from engaging in activities related to administering websites and channels using electronic or information and telecommunications networks.
Arestovych was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code (public calls to carry out terrorist activities) and Paragraph “d” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 (public dissemination of knowingly false information containing data on the use of the Russian armed forces).
The case was prompted by statements made by Arestovych in 2022 after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the time, he called for the destruction of railways in order to disrupt the movement and supply of the aggressor’s army. In April of the same year, Arestovych posted information online about crimes committed by Russian servicemen in Bucha, which Russia considers to be false information.
A criminal case has also been opened against Oleksii Arestovych in Belarus. The Prosecutor General’s Office opened it in March 2022. However, in Belarus the case has not yet reached the stage of a verdict in absentia.
Ukraine has also imposed sanctions on him, and there have been reports of criminal prosecution against him.