MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny District Court sentenced in absentia Ilya Krasilshchik, a media manager and former head of the Yandex.Lavka grocery delivery service, to eight years in prison on charges of spreading false information about the Russian Armed Forces, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom on Thursday.

"The court found Krasilshchik guilty under Article 207.3, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Public Dissemination of Deliberately False Information Motivated by Political Hatred") and sentenced him in absentia to eight years," the judge said. The accused is also barred from managing websites for four years following his release from incarceration.

During arguments, the prosecution asked that the defendant be sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security prison. The defense pleaded for an acquittal. According to the prosecution, in April 2022 Krasilshchik, while abroad, spread deliberately false information via his website about the actions of Russian troops in the Kiev suburb of Bucha. Additionally, he gave an interview where he spread patently false information about the Russian Armed Forces allegedly shelling and eliminating civilian infrastructure and residents on Ukrainian soil.

The defendant has not admitted his guilt. He is currently abroad and is listed as wanted.