A court in Moscow sentenced the very first person to have been charged under Russias wartime law versus spreading knowingly false details to 9 years in jail in absentia on Monday, the independent broadcaster Sota reported.Veronika Belotserkovskaya, a Ukrainian-born Russian journalist and the owner of a culinary school in France where she lives, wasamong the first individuals to be charged with spreading out incorrect info about Russias intrusion of Ukraine after she published on Instagram about Russias shelling of a maternity medical facility in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and the massacre of civilians by Russian forces in Kyiv residential area of Bucha in March.As well as her long prison sentence, the court banned Belotserkovskaya from running websites for a five-year duration after her release.
As Belotserkovskaya was attempted in absentia and lives in France, she is not likely to have to serve her sentence, however.Russia passed a law in March criminalizing the sharing of information about the special military operation in Ukraine that differed from the Kremlins story, and penalizing those condemned of doing so with sentences of approximately 15 years.
Belotserkovskaya has already had homes she owns in Russia worth $2.1 million taken by court order, was contributed to the Russian federal governments wanted list and stated a foreign representative, a label that carries rigorous monetary and legal restrictions.