By Victoria Arnold — A Moscow court jailed Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev on 25 June for eight years for allegedly disseminating "knowingly false information" about Russia's Armed Forces, the longest known prison term for opposing Russia's war against Ukraine on religious grounds. "We called for the voice of reason, but it seems the judge heard only the voice of the prosecutor's office," his lawyer Gevorg Aleksanyan said. A court spokesperson refused comment on the verdict or why the Judge refuses a prison visit from a Buddhist priest.
Ilya Vasilyev in court, Moscow, 2024 Gevorg Aleksanyan [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0]
On 25 June, a year after his arrest, a Moscow court sentenced Buddhist leader Ilya Vasilyev to eight years' imprisonment for allegedly disseminating "knowingly false information" about the Russian Armed Forces. This is the longest known prison term yet handed to an individual who opposes Russia's war against Ukraine on religious grounds. Vasilyev, who refused to admit guilt, intends to challenge his conviction, and his lawyer has already lodged an initial appeal on his behalf.
"We called for the voice of reason, but it seems the judge heard only the voice of the prosecutor's office," his lawyer Gevorg Aleksanyan said outside the court after the sentencing hearing.
Forum 18 asked Moscow's Preobrazhensky District Court why Judge Valentina Lebedeva decided that such a long jail term was necessary, and in what way Vasilyev could be considered dangerous. Court press secretary Mariya Martynenko responded that she did not "have the right to comment on the legality and validity of court decisions (orders) or the individual actions of a judge".
Prosecutors had charged Vasilyev under Criminal Code Article 207.3 ("Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation"), Part 2, Paragraph e ("for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity against any social group") for a single Facebook post in English about a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Kherson in 2022.
Vasilyev made this post, as well as others on VKontakte which led to an earlier administrative prosecution, "solely out of religious conviction", he told Forum 18 through his lawyer Aleksanyan in November 2024. He added that he is "not a politician and is engaged only in religion".
Vasilyev has spent the year since his arrest in June 2024 in detention in two Moscow prisons. Currently, he remains in custody in Matrosskaya Tishina prison awaiting appeal. (Continue, read the full article on Forum18)
Source: Forum18
