Student Egor Zhukov given 3-year suspended sentence for spreading extremism online over Moscow protests
by RT
Student Egor Zhukov given 3-year suspended sentence for spreading extremism online over Moscow protests
A university student and YouTube blogger will spend three years on probation after a Moscow court sentenced him for inciting “extremism” during the unauthorized opposition protests that rocked the Russian capital this summer.
Egor Zhukov has been found guilty of “publicly calling for extremism on the internet,” the judge stated, as quoted Russian news agencies. He will also be barred from using “communication networks” for two years, the verdict says.
Ahead of the verdict, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Zhukov, a popular YouTuber and political science student, to four years in prison. The 21-year-old student was initially accused of stirring up mass unrest during unauthorized opposition rallies that continued through July and August in Moscow.
Rallies were held in support of opposition candidates who were barred from the Moscow City Council election over paperwork irregularities.
As public figures and fellow students campaigned in Egor’s defense, the case was dropped, but a new one was opened into incitement of extremism.
