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Russian blogger sentenced to 5 years in jail over threats to children of police officers

The man will appeal the sentence in the Moscow City Court and the European Court of Human Rights
Vladislav Sinitsa Maxim Grigoriev/TASS
Vladislav Sinitsa
© Maxim Grigoriev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/. Moscow’s Presnensky Court has sentenced Russian blogger Vladislav Sinitsa, who was charged with extremism over his tweets threatening the children of Russian law enforcement officers, to five years in jail, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"The court has ruled to find Sinitsa guilty and sentence him to five years in a general regime colony," the judge said.

During the oral arguments, the public prosecutors demanded sentencing Sinitsa to six years in a general regime colony. The blogger pleaded not guilty to the charges.

According to the indictment, Sinitsa had been posting extremism-related tweets for a week. On July 31, Sinitsa published calls to the social media under the nickname of Maks Steklov "urging a wide range of people to begin illegal acts of violence against law enforcers’ children," investigators said. The Investigative Committee believes that his actions pursued a goal "of instigating hostility and hatred against all law enforcers and their families."

Lawyer Denis Tikhonov told TASS on Tuesday that the blogger would appeal the sentence in the Moscow City Court and the European Court of Human Rights.