A Russian court has sentenced Oleksi Arestovich, former advisor to the office of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to eleven years in prison 'in absentia' this Friday, considering him guilty of spreading "terrorist propaganda" and "false information" about the Armed Forces of Russia in the context of the invasion of Ukraine.
"For the totality of the crimes, a definitive sentence of eleven years in prison is imposed on Oleksi Arestovich," the judge noted, specifying that the first three years must be served in a regular prison and the remaining period in a general regime penitentiary colony. However, the accused is not in Russian territory and mainly resides in the United States.
The ruling also includes a four-year disqualification from managing websites and channels on the Internet, once the Prosecutor's Office ratified the charges and a search and capture order was issued against him.
Arestovich has been prosecuted under several articles of the Russian Penal Code, including the one that punishes public incitement to terrorist activities through the Internet and the one that contemplates the conscious dissemination of false information about the Armed Forces of Russia.
According to the accusation, Arestovich allegedly spread on social media a video in which he called to destroy railway infrastructures used to supply material and support to the Russian troops deployed on the front.
In 2023, the Russian authorities included him in their list of "terrorists and extremists" amid the military offensive on Ukraine. Arestovich, who is also an actor and blogger, previously worked for the Ukrainian intelligence services and served as an advisor to Zelensky from December 2020 to January 2023.