A resident of Bratsk, a major city in Siberia, has been sentenced to 12.5 years for allegedly “extremist” comments and selling cannabis.

32-year-old Alexander Voronin, a resident of Bratsk, a major city in Siberia, has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison on charges of inciting extremism (part 2, article 280 of the Criminal Code), justifying terrorism (part 2, article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) on the internet, and the illegal sale of cannabis (part 1 and part 4, article 228.1 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the press service of the 2nd Eastern District Military Court.

According to the court, Voronin “was opposed to the special military operation conducted by the Russian Federation” and posted “comments justifying acts of terrorism” in online communities.

In addition, the court found him guilty of publishing comments “motivated by hatred and enmity against a group of people united by nationality.” The messages allegedly contained “calls to carry out extremist activities.”

The court did not specify which statements were made in the comments. OVD-Info was also unable to identify which posts from his social media pages the Bratsk resident had published.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court also imposed a fine of 150,000 roubles (about US$1,650) on Voronin and banned him from running websites on the internet for three years.

In July 2024, Rosfinmonitoring added Alexander Voronin to its “terrorists and extremists” list. According to his VKontakte page, the man worked for RUSAL, Russia’s largest aluminium producer.