The court sent the former photographer of Navalny’s Moscow headquarters to prison

The 2nd Western District Military Court in Moscow sentenced the photographer Alexander Strukov to 8 years in a general regime colony for his comments on the Telegram channel. He was convicted on charges of incitement to terrorism, inciting hatred and insulting the feelings of believers. This was reported by the human rights organization “First Department”.

Strukov cooperated with the Moscow headquarters of Alexei Navalny. In January last year, he was detained in Moscow, more than 20 people participated in the search of his apartment. The reason for excitement was the greetings of the photographer in the comments under the articles of the Ural media Znak.com, he began them with the phrases “Down with the power of the Chekists…”, “Good morning everyone, down with Putin!”, “Glory to Ukraine!”

In the first examination of the case, it was stated that Strukov incited hatred and enmity towards Russians with his texts, directed the commission of terrorist acts, the murder of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and members of the United Russia party, and called for the assassination of President Vladimir Putin. Later, this examination was canceled. The retest was conducted by the Institute of Forensics of the FSB.

The time spent by Strukov in the pretrial detention center will be counted as a day in prison. The sentence has not entered into legal force. Strukov is held in the pre-trial detention center “Matrosskaya Tishina”. In September, when he was in SIZO-7 in Kapotne, he was threatened with beating, his lawyers said.

The publication Znak.com closed comments under the posts after his arrest. The editorial office suspended work after the Russian invasion of Ukraine due to the introduction of military censorship in the country. The editors did not return to work. In October 2023, its legal entity was closed.