In this instance, a Russian judicial body found Mishchenko guilty of allegedly backing a pro-Ukrainian organization.
A Russian judge slapped an activist with a 12-year prison sentence on a hump day, claiming he aided a pro-Ukrainian group. The accused, Eugene Mishchenko, stands accused of dishing out intel to the outlawed Liberation League of Russia, a collective mainly made up of Putin-detester Russians situated in Ukraine, according to the Russian official news outlet RIA Novosti.
Mishchenko is part of a pool of activists who commemorate Boris Nemtsov, a Kremlin criticism icon, who met his end on a Moscow bridge in 2015, as reported by the autonomous Russian news resource Mediazona. This group, famously known as the "Nemtsov Bridge," throngs the site of Nemtsov's assassination every now and then, by laying down flowers and lighting candles, a ritual that the cops typically do away with. The decision against Mishchenko came out on the day Nemtsov would have celebrated his 65th birthday.
Mishchenko rejected the accusations, stating that the evidence collection was unlawful. He didn't deny being associated with the Liberation League of Russia. The evidence was accumulated by an undercover operative who posed as a helper at the Nemtsov memorial. As per Mishchenko, the operative asked him to relay info to the Liberation League of Russia.
"I'm sorry to find myself in this predicament, but I'm not ashamed," Mishchenko told the court, according to Mediazona. "I'm not too concerned about myself, but about what's happening in this nation." He mentioned that a stretch in prison won't alter his convictions.
The murder of Nemtsov, who criticized the Crimea annexation in 2014, stays a mystery. Russian officials have already dished out prison terms or fines to countless individuals for their pro-Ukrainian actions or remarks against the Ukraine offensive.
Mishchenko's association with the Liberation League of Russia was brought up during his trial, as he was known to be part of the Nemtsov Bridge Group, which regularly pays tribute to Boris Nemtsov at the site of his assassination. Despite being part of this group, Mishchenko maintained his involvement with the Liberation League of Russia but questioned the legality of the evidence against him.
