Russian politician Dmitry Gudkov sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison — Novaya Gazeta Europe

A Moscow court has sentenced Russian politician Dmitry Gudkov in absentia to eight years in prison for spreading false information about the Russian army, the Moscow court's press service reported on Wednesday.

The case against Gudkov was based on a video he posted on his YouTube channel in April 2022. The video, according to the Investigative Committee, spread “false information” about the killing of civilians by the Russian military in the towns of Bucha, Irpin and Borodyanka in the Kyiv region in the early days of the war.

Reacting to the verdict from exile, Gudkov described his criminal conviction as “the same badge of honor as being designated a foreign agent, but on steroids,” but added that he had no inclination to “sneer at the decision.”

“My thoughts today are with the hundreds of real Russian political prisoners – not those imprisoned in absentia – who are hoping against hope for another prisoner exchange” or the end of Putin's life, Gudkov added.

Both Gudkov and his father Gennady are former members of the Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, and served as deputies of the social democratic Fair Russia party, currently led by Sergei Mironov.

The Russian government placed Gudkov on the list of “foreign agents” in February 2023. Both he and his father had left Russia before the war began in 2022.