Russian activist who called for Putin’s hanging sentenced to seven years in prison

A Russian military court has sentenced activist Mikhail Kriger, a member of the Solidarnost movement, to seven years in prison on charges of “justifying terrorism” and “issuing threats of violence,” according to a Telegram channel created in Kriger’s support.

Prosecutors allege that Kriger endangered the lives of FSB officers and called for the hanging of Vladimir Putin, the outlet Mediazona has reported. According to his supporters, Kriger’s offense consisted of comments and posts on Facebook.

In 2020, Kriger commented on a post about Mikhail Zhlobitsky, a student who detonated a bomb in an FSB office in Arkhangelsk, and Evgeny Manyurov, who opened fire on the FSB headquarters in Moscow. “I won’t hide from anybody my visceral hatred for the regime, for the Chekists, for the people who installed it, and for V. Putin personally,” he wrote. “And believe me: when and if I live to see the hanging of this KGB scumbag, I’ll fight with all of my strength for the right to take part in that heartwarming event.”

After his sentence was announced, Kriger reportedly cried, “Glory to Ukraine!” according to his supporters.

In his closing statement, he said that he’s being persecuted for his anti-war and “openly pro-Ukrainian position,” as well as repeating that he “dreams” about surviving to see the “Putin hanging”:

I’m confident that our dictator deserves this kind of execution just like other war criminals who have been sentenced to hanging by, for example, the Nuremberg Tribunal. If you have Putin, you have rivers of blood. If it weren’t for Putin, there wouldn’t be this bloodshed.