A Russian military court on Friday sentenced an anti-war activist to 15 years imprisonment for setting fire to a military commissariat and desecrating the graves of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.

In a statement, the court identified Angel Nikolayev as “an opponent of mobilisation” and provided a long list of his offences stretching back nearly two years.

On two separate occasions, Mr Nikolayev spray-painted “symbols visually similar to Nazi symbols” on Russian flags draped over the graves of soldiers killed in Ukraine, the court said.

Zona Solidarnosti (Solidarity Zone), a Telegram channel that provides information about Russian anti war activists, said Nikolayev had painted a crossed-out “Z” the symbol of Moscow’s war in Ukraine on the flags.

His protest actions continued. Last spring, Mr Nikolayev cut out the “Z” symbol on an advert poster at a local bus stop, an act of vandalism, the court said.

He also tore off “Z” symbols pasted onto cars.

Later, last autumn, the court said Mr Nikolayev set fire to a military recruitment centre in Khabarovsk using “two incendiary bottles with a flammable mixture” a terrorist act. No one was harmed in the incident but the building sustained serious damage, according to the court.

The prosecutor sought an 18-year sentence for Mr Nikolayev. According to Zona Solidarnosti, he pleaded guilty but did not express any regret.

Over 20,000 people have been detained in Russia for expressing anti-war views since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to Russian rights group OVD-Info.

That figure includes those arrested for non-violent offences, such as posting negative opinions about the Russian army online or giving interviews to journalists about the war. 

(Reuters/NAN)