A Moscow court on Wednesday sentenced Russian blogger Anna Bazhutova to five-and-a-half years in jail for livestreaming witness testimony about alleged Russian atrocities during the occupation of the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.
“It’s disgusting and vile. It’s messed up,” the 30-year-old defendant, speaking from the glass-walled dock, said in reaction to the ruling against her.
The Ostankino district court in northern Moscow found Bazhutova guilty of spreading “fake” information on abuses by the Russian army in Ukraine on her YokoBovich channel on the Twitch livestreaming service.
Russia has waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent since it launched its military campaign against Ukraine in February 2022.
“This is a harsh sentence. We will appeal,” her lawyer Andrei Nevrev said.
Ukraine accuses the Russian army of carrying out a massacre in the town near Kyiv during its retreat from the region in spring 2022. Moscow rejects these accusations and says the massacre was staged by the West.
In April 2022, Bazhutova did a live broadcast including witness statements from people living in Bucha who directly accused the Russian military of carrying out killings.
A recording of the broadcast was republished in June 2023 by bloggers that support Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, who filed a complaint against her to police.
Two months later, police came to her home and confiscated audiovisual materials. Her Twitch channel was also blocked.
“We expected a lighter verdict. It’s tough, frightening,” Bazhutova’s partner, Alexander Demchuk, told reporters after the verdict.
“Anna never leaves the house, she suffers from agoraphobia. But she is strong, I hope she will overcome this,” he added.
Moscow made criticism of the military illegal shortly after launching its assault on Ukraine and has since detained thousands of opponents.
Russian courts have issued severe punishments for criticism, whether in comments to journalists, in social media or even in poetry.
Alexandra Popova, whose husband Artyom Kamardin was sentenced to seven years in prison last December for reciting a poem, came to Wednesday’s hearing to show her support for Bazhutova.
Kamardin had read a poem titled “Kill me, militia man” at a popular protest spot in Moscow in opposition to the Kremlin’s September 2022 mobilisation drive.
“I’m not surprised by the verdict, but it’s very painful for me,” Popova said Wednesday.
damn, it’s gonna be extra hard for her