The Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced blogger and politician Maxim Katz in absentia to eight years in a penal colony in the case of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army motivated by political hatred (paragraph “e” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This was reported to Present Time in the press service of the court.
The court also banned Katz from administering the sites for four years.
The state prosecution requested that he be sentenced to ten years in prison and banned from administering websites for 5 years.
The reason for initiating a case against Katz, as specified in the Prosecutor General’s Office, was a video posted on his YouTube channel on April 3, 2022, “in which he allegedly” disseminated, under the guise of reliable messages, deliberately false information containing data on the use of the Russian Armed Forces to destroy the population points and the civilian population” in Ukraine. The video dealt with the killing of civilians in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Bucha.
“Mediazona” indicates that the politician did not admit guilt, although he did not deny that he had published this video. The video has already been viewed 2.3 million times.
At the end of March 2023, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested Makism Kats in absentia for two months. In early March, he was put on the international wanted list.
Katz is currently in Israel. In July 2022, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation recognized him as a “foreign agent”, whose activities are financed from Ukraine. In October 2022, Katz was entered into the Peacemaker base as a threat to the security of Ukraine.
