April 20, 2015
MOSCOW -- A court in
Moscow has convicted an opposition journalist on charges of terrorism and
extremism, sentencing him to seven years in prison.
The Moscow Regional
Military Court on April 20 issued the ruling against Boris Stomakhin on April
20.
The sentence also bans
Stomakhin from working as a journalist for five years.
The ruling consolidates
sentences imposed against Stomakhin in several previous cases.
He had initially been
sentenced to five years in prison in 2006 and to 6 1/2 years in jail in 2014 on
charges of inciting ethnic hatred and extremism, and threatening the
territorial integrity of Russia.
Those charges were filed
after articles he wrote criticizing Moscow's policies in the North Caucasus
were published by the Kavkazcenter.com website, which is associated with
Islamic insurgency.
Stomakhin pleaded not
guilty to all of the charges and insists the cases against him were politically
motivated.
His lawyer, Tatyana
Sidorkina, said the sentence will be appealed.
