A 61-year-old retired airline pilot was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Friday after allegedly planning to join the Ukrainian army, according to a Russian court.
Igor Pokusin, who was born in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, poured paint on a pro-army banner in March 2022 and wrote “Glory to Ukraine” on the wall of a local museum in the Siberian town where he lives.
After serving a six-month suspended sentence for those crimes, he was charged with “treason” based on wiretapped calls to relatives in Ukraine, according to rights groups.
Prosecutors claimed that Pokusin, who has multiple health issues, intended to travel to Ukraine to “fight against the Russian army”.
“Pokusin was unable to follow through with his actions,” the judge said.
He was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison for “state treason” by Russia’s Siberian Khakassia region’s top court.
Pokusin acknowledged his opposition to the conflict, according to the Perviy Otdel rights group, but denied plans to “fight on anyone’s side”.
Moscow made criticism of its army illegal shortly after launching its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, and thousands of conflict opponents have been censored, imprisoned, or exiled.
Pokusin’s sentencing came the day after a human rights activist was sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly “discrediting” Moscow’s army in a social media post.
