A Russian court has sentenced prominent lawyer Dmitry Talantov to seven years in prison for criticizing the war in Ukraine on social media, according to the Russian independent monitoring group OVD-Info.
Talantov, 63, was arrested in June 2022 and has been behind bars for over two years. He was convicted of inciting hatred and spreading what Russian law enforcement called "false information" about the Russian military, offenses introduced under a 2022 law that criminalizes public dissent against the war.
Talantov, who once chaired the regional lawyers' association in Udmurtia, was accused of posting several social media comments condemning Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a letter from detention, Talantov explained his actions: "I once looked at a photo of a maimed Ukrainian woman and decided that I can’t stay silent anymore. But I remained a lawyer. I published my opinion in a way that doesn’t violate the formalistic law. And you know what? It is not my problem that a normal act is perceived by someone as a crime."
The court in Zavyalovo, Udmurtia, found him guilty and handed down the seven-year sentence on Nov. 28. OVD-Info reports that over 1,100 people have been implicated in criminal cases related to anti-war expressions since the invasion began, with 340 currently incarcerated or involuntarily committed to medical institutions.
Before his arrest, Talantov had been a longtime chair of Udmurtia’s Chamber of Lawyers and was involved in defending former journalist Ivan Safronov, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2022 for exposing military incidents and arms deals.
Martin Fornusek
(Updated: )
