The Basmanny District Court of Moscow sentenced in absentia the founder of the 'Ark' project, lawyer Anastasia Burakova, to seven and a half years in a penal colony, accusing her of spreading 'fakes' about the Russian army motivated by 'political hatred', reported lawyer Sergey Badamshin. She was also banned from administering websites for three years.
The prosecution requested 8.5 years of imprisonment.
As reported by the correspondent of SOTAvision*, at the beginning of the session, witnesses from the prosecution side were questioned — activists of the NOD movement. Pensioner Natalya Kopylova said that, like most people now, she is interested in politics, she saw Burakova's speech video on the human rights defender's channel and was outraged because it was 'slander'.
Kopylova told the prosecutor that this is not her personal opinion, as she 'knows the situation' and listens to the stories of 'our guys' who come from the front line. When asked by the lawyer about her personal views, the pensioner replied that she is a patriot and is part of the NOD movement. She then explained that the 'National Liberation Movement' exists to bring the country out of a non-sovereign state, and 'foreign agents' are people who were trained with money from a foreign state, in foreign countries, to lead the country in its non-sovereign state. The witness added that they should not govern the state and hold positions in official media.
Next, 71-year-old pensioner Tatyana Morozova spoke. She said that in the video, Burakova spoke against the 'SVO', called to 'fight against the Putin regime, create almost underground organizations' and spread information on the internet about looting by Russian soldiers.
The pensioner also said that Burakova's words are lies because 'we listen to what the Ministry of Defense says, and the Ministry of Defense did not say that, so it is lies and falsehood'.
Anastasia Burakova is the former chair of 'Open Russia'** and the founder of the 'Ark' project, which helps anti-war Russians in emigration. In the summer of 2024, a criminal case was initiated against Burakova on 'fakes' about the army. The reason for the prosecution was a post on Anastasia's Telegram channel 'Who if not Burakova' with a video of her speaking at a rally in Tbilisi on the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
* Recognized as a 'foreign agent' in Russia.
** Recognized as an 'undesirable' organization in Russia.