Blogger-propagandist from Crimea to be tried for justifying Russian aggression

During 2022-2024, a citizen of Ukraine, a resident of the occupied Crimea, created and disseminated information content on his own Telegram channel and YouTube video hosting aimed at supporting the aggressor state and discrediting the Ukrainian military.

According to the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, in his videos, the accused compared the Azov regiment fighters to a "neo-Nazi organization" and spoke about the alleged deployment of Ukrainian military equipment near civilian infrastructure, assuring the audience of the urgency of rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities.

"The forensic linguistic examination confirmed that the accused's statements contained justifications for Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, as well as encouragement of the enemy army to hold the captured Ukrainian territories," the agency said in a statement.

The autonomy's prosecutor's office has submitted an indictment against a pro-Russian blogger from Crimea to the court. His actions are classified as collaboration and production and dissemination of materials justifying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine using the media. He faces up to 12 years in prison for his actions.

Earlier, the autonomy's prosecutor's office submitted to the court an indictment against a member of the illegal armed group"Crimean self-defense", which acted on the side of the Russian armed forces during the active phase of the occupation of the peninsula. An indictment against a"military expert" from Crimea, who publicly calls for an aggressive war against Ukraine, was also submitted to the court.

In addition, Daryna Safonova , editor-in-chief of the occupation media holding "TRK Krym", was suspected of justifying the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine with the use of the media . Also, , the National Police of Ukraine reported that Kherson journalist Tetyana Levandovska, who voluntarily agreed to head the illegal "Department of Mass Media and Public Relations" in the occupation "administration" of Kherson region, was suspected of collaboration. Prior to the occupation, Levandovska worked as a presenter at the regional TV channel "Scythia", had her own television projects and was involved in PR for Volodymyr Saldo and Vitaliy Buliuk.

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