A court in Moscow has only reduced, and not revoked, the prison sentence passed on Konstantin Kotov, a Russian computer programmer who actively helped Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian political prisoners and tirelessly protested against repression in occupied Crimea. The public prosecutor and courts have thus upheld a notorious law enabling the criminalization of purely peaceful protest. This is the second time a Russian has been imprisoned under the new Article 212.1 of Russia’s criminal code, and it is probably no coincidence that on both occasions, the target was an activist speaking out in defense of Russia’s Ukrainian political prisoners. Within days of Kotov’s arrest, the 24 Ukrainian POWs whom he had helped after they were illegally taken to Moscow, had collected money for him, and other former political prisoners, such as Oleg Sentsov, whom Kotov wrote to while he was imprisoned, have spoken out in his defense.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Halya Coynash: Russia not to decriminalize protest defending Ukrainian prisoners
Opposition supporters holding the Russian Constitution books walk on Red Square to support opposition activist Konstantin Kotov, who was sentenced to four years in prison for repeatedly taking part in unauthorized rallies, in downtown Moscow on Oct. 13, 2019.
