A resident of Kirov has been sentenced to four years in prison for justifying the explosion in Crimea.

On 4 March, the Central District Military Court sentenced Gennady Pashkov, a resident of Kirov (a major city in the Volga region), to four years in a strict regime penal colony for publicly justifying terrorism (Part 1, Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). The verdict was highlighted by the SOVA research centre.

The criminal case was investigated by officers from the Kirov branch of the FSB. According to the agency, Pashkov “publicly justified a terrorist act carried out by Ukrainian special services on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula.” The security services did not specify where exactly this happened, or what Pashkov from Kirov said or did.

According to the court’s decision, Pashkov will spend the first year and six months in prison. He appealed the sentence, but a higher court upheld it without changes. The verdict has entered into force.