A labourer from Chelyabinsk has been sentenced to six years in prison over two comments made on Telegram.

The Central District Military Court in Yekaterinburg has sentenced Sergei Fomov, a labourer from Chelyabinsk, to six years in a general-regime prison colony on charges of “justifying terrorism” (part 2, article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code) over two comments he posted on Telegram. This was reported by Mediazona.

According to investigators, in February last year, the man posted a comment on politician Boris Nadezhdin’s Telegram channel which read: “Putin to the gallows with his cronies and no nails needed! Move the capital to Petersburg, bury Lenin, turn the Kremlin into a museum of a grim past, and let racks and torture devices from the days of the mad dictator Ivashka stand all around.”

On 17 March of the same year, the last day of the presidential election, Sergei Fomov posted another comment on the ‘Free Russia Movement’ channel. The comment was left under a poll about whether channel subscribers were attending the election. It said: “Well done RDK, real men have come home.”

The court found Fomov guilty. In addition to the prison term, he has been banned from administering websites and online channels for three years. The computer that, according to the court, he used to post the comments was ordered to be confiscated by the state as an “instrument of crime.”

Earlier, state prosecutors had requested a seven-year prison term and a five-year ban on internet administration for him.

In his closing statement, the Chelyabinsk resident apologised to “the president and participants of the Special Military Operation,” and said he supports the Russian authorities.

“I was raised and grew up in the USSR and in the 1990s. I started working at 16. I had a tough childhood, my family was poor, I was never interested in politics. I have always supported the authorities of the Russian Federation, because I am a citizen of the Russian Federation. I support the president of the Russian Federation regarding the ‘Special Military Operation’ and negotiations for a ceasefire,” said Sergei Fomov.

He asked for a non-custodial sentence. Fomov cited his “poor health” and noted that his mother has Alzheimer’s and needs care.

“I always found people to argue with about politics. And always for the sake of a sharp word. But I never really understood it. I didn’t realise the text had a radical, extremist or terrorist context. I only found out it was a crime from the investigator. In the future I don’t intend to use social media. It has only brought me harm in life,” the Chelyabinsk resident said.

• After his arrest in August last year, Fomov was placed in a pre-trial detention centre. For the past six years, he has worked through the profi.ru platform under a contractor agreement as a labourer.