Putin critic gets six years in penal colony, vows hunger strike
A left-wing critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sergei Udaltsov, was sentenced to six years in prison and found guilty of justifying terrorism by a Moscow court on Thursday.
The sentence was one year less than the seven years requested by the prosecution. Shortly before the verdict, Udaltsov said he would go on an “indefinite hunger strike until death” if found guilty.
After the ruling, he was quoted by opposition media outlet Meduza: “A shameful decision. Everyone who made it will be held accountable, I hope. Be damned, you dogs. I wish you that with all my heart.”
Udaltsov, whose wife Anastasia serves in the Russian State Duma for the Communist Party, supports Russia’s war against Ukraine but is seen as a critic of Putin.
According to Meduza, the prosecution of Udaltsov stems from his article “How Marxists Were Turned into Terrorists.”
In it, he expressed support for another group of Russian militants accused of forming a terrorist organization by the domestic intelligence service FSB.
The activists were sentenced earlier this month by a military court to prison terms of between 16 and 22 years.
Udaltsov was a prominent leader of the Russian protest movement from 2011 to 2013, which opposed Putin’s return to the presidency.
In 2014, Udaltsov was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on charges related to his role in organizing protests against Putin, which turned into mass unrest. He was released in 2017.
