Judge Sergey Krasnopevcev of the 1st Western District Military Court found St. Petersburg resident Andrey Shkolin guilty of 'justifying terrorism' and sentenced him to five years in prison, reported a SOTAvision* correspondent from the courtroom.
In 2020, Shkolin posted a photo of Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who committed a suicide bombing in the FSB building in Arkhangelsk in 2018, on his VKontakte account, captioning it 'Heroes live forever'.
Earlier, during the debates, prosecutor Victoria Khristova requested six years of imprisonment for Shkolin, noting that he 'published other posts criticizing the Russian authorities' on his account.
The prosecution considers the guilt of the St. Petersburg resident proven by the conclusions of a forensic examination, which indicated that Shkolin acted deliberately and was aware of the danger of his actions. Prosecutor Khristova reminded the court as an additional argument of the accused's admission that he exclusively watches the Deutsche Welle channel, and not Russian TV, as he considers the content aggressive.
Lawyer Zaykin stated that Shkolin had no 'terrorist intent' and knew nothing about Zhlobitsky's personality, considering him a football fan. The defense asked the court to impose a fine on Shkolin as punishment.
The defendant himself did not plead guilty and stated that he does not like the current order, where people are beaten, and does not like the lies that are now flourishing. 'That's why I'm being judged,' he concluded in his final statement.
* Recognized in Russia as 'foreign agents'.