Russian court sentences Colombian citizen to 5 years in prison for 'fake news'

This is a rare case of Russia applying its wartime censorship laws to foreigners, according to the Russian news agency Mediazona on Tuesday. Specifically, Alberto Enrique Giraldo Saray was convicted of spreading fake news about the Russian military, violating the law passed last year.

Illustration: Skynews

The charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 5 million rubles ($60,000). Giraldo Saray's trial at the Golovinsky District Court in Moscow was held behind closed doors, Mediazona reported.

The man was arrested in April 2022 after investigators said he bought mobile phones and SIM cards and placed them at a Moscow shopping mall.

The accomplices then sent a series of remote messages to the phones containing “deliberately false information” about the conduct of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, including the killing of civilians, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office released last December.

The prosecutor's office said two accomplices, Briseño Mendoza and Ramirez Salazar, who were outside Russia at the time, transferred cryptocurrency to Giraldo Saray as payment. The two accomplices have been placed on the wanted list.

Mai Van (according to Mediazona, Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/toa-an-nga-ket-an-cong-dan-colombia-5-nam-tu-vi-tin-gia-post248005.html