A Moscow court today sentenced a musician and environmental activist to six years in prison for posting three anti-war messages on social media platforms, a friend of his said today.

Alexander Bakhtin, 51, from Mytsy, near Moscow, was arrested in March 2023 on charges of spreading “false information” about the Russian military. This accusation is often used to silence the voices of those who oppose the war in Ukraine.

“Alexander was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from running websites for three years,” Andrei Cetinin, a friend of his who was present at the hearing, told AFP.

Bakhtin will be mandatorily monitored by a psychiatrist during his detention in a prison colony, Russian non-governmental organization OVD-Info reported.

In March and April 2022, Bakhtin posted three messages on the VKontakte website, condemning the military campaign in Ukraine, talking about civilian deaths and criticizing President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier, the prosecution asked for an eight-year sentence and his 79-year-old mother, who was in court, sobbed and felt sick. Judge Maria Loktionova stopped the proceedings for a short time. After the verdict was announced, Bakhtin shouted at the judge: “Damn you, Loktionova,” Chetinin said.