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Photo by Alexandra Astakhova / Mediazona
The 2nd Western District Military Court in Vladimir has sentenced Alexei Gorinov, a municipal deputy from Moscow already imprisoned for his anti-war stance, to another three years in a penal colony. He was found guilty of justifying terrorism. As evidence, the prosecution used recordings of his conversations with other inmates in the prison hospital. The Russian independent publication Mediazona broadcast the sentencing in real time.
According to the prosecution, Gorinov, while speaking to other convicts, defended the Ukrainian operation that resulted in an explosion on the Kerch Bridge, and he also approved of the actions of Ukraine’s Azov Battalion and Kraken, a unit of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, both of which had been labeled “terrorist groups” in Russia.
Gorinov insists that his conversation partners provoked him in order to get him to talk about politics, and that he never said anything that could be interpreted as justification of terrorism. Sibir.Realii, a Radio Liberty project, cited Gorinov’s defense attorney Alena Savelyeva as part of a report about the evidence against her client. The covert recordings in Gorinov’s case file span 20 days and include almost 14 hours of audio.Despite the abundance of material, the prosecution could not find more than a few words Gorinov had said in all this time that implied justification of terrorism. The quote they seized on about the Kerch Bridge was: “So they blew it up, so what? There’s a war going on.” As for the Azov Battalion, Gorinov’s purportedly offensive words were: “Evil spirits? They are the Armed Forces!”
Speaking in court on Nov. 27, Gorinov reiterated his antiwar stance and explained that he could not be further from the terrorist ideology:
“I am a convinced internationalist, an opponent of war and violence, which I have repeatedly stated publicly and demonstrated with my entire life. All people are born equal in rights, and I don't judge them by nationality. I have no reason to detest the long-suffering residents of Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions, who have been deceived in their expectations.
I am far from the ideology of terrorism, and I am not capable of forming it in other people — contrary to the wording of the indictment. I do not see it as appealing, and I don't think it's right. Have a conscience: the investigation has failed to prove my words wrong, Whatever is written there is a bunch of nasty nonsense. As for the Ukrainian organizations Kraken and Right Sector, I have no idea what they are and never spoke about them. The experts added this to their conclusions at their own initiative. In early September 2023, FSB officers came to me twice to Penal Colony IK-2 in Pokrov, asking if I had heard of Kraken. I answered negatively.”
The Insider quotes Gorinov’s last word in full:
“All my life I have been an opponent of aggression, violence, and war, devoting it exclusively to peaceful pursuits: research, teaching, education, governance, and public service as a deputy, human rights activist, member of electoral commissions, and supervisor of the electoral process. I never thought I would live to see such a level of degradation of my country's political system and foreign policy, to see thousands of ordinary citizens who are in favor of peace and against war be accused of slandering the Armed Forces and justifying terrorism and put on trial for that.
The third year of the war is coming to an end — the third year of casualties and destruction, with millions of people plunged into hardship and suffering unseen on European territory since World War II. We cannot keep quiet about it.
Back in late April, our former Minister of Defense announced the losses of the Ukrainian side in the armed conflict — 500,000 people. Think about that number! In this case, how big are the losses suffered by Russia, if official reports suggest non-stop, successful advances along the entire front? We still don't know that. Who will be held accountable for that? What's it all for?
Our government and those who endorse its militaristic aspirations wanted this war so much — and now it has come to our land. I would like to ask them: has our life become better? Is that how you understand the welfare and security of our country and its people? Or did you not envision such a development in your calculations?
But so far, those held accountable are not the ones who unleashed the war, continue to kill, spread war propaganda and engage in mercenarism, but us, ordinary Russian citizens who raise our voices against the war and for peace. We answer with our freedom and sometimes lives.
I belong to the outgoing generation of people whose parents fought in World War II or survived its innumerable hardships. The bygone generation has already bequeathed us to preserve peace as the most precious thing on Earth for all its inhabitants. But we have neglected his precepts and devalued our memory of these people and the victims of that war.
My fault is that I, as a citizen of my country, allowed this war and failed to stop it. I would like you to note it in my sentence.
But I would also like the organizers, participants, endorsers of the war, and persecutors of those who advocate for peace to share my guilt and responsibility.
I continue to live with the hope that someday I will see it happen. In the meantime, I ask the people of Ukraine and my fellow citizens affected by the war to forgive me.
In the case in which I was charged and tried for expressing the opinion that an end to war should be sought, I fully expressed my attitude toward this vile human endeavor. All I can say is that violence and aggression breed only reciprocal violence and nothing more. This is the true cause of our troubles, our suffering, our senseless sacrifices, and the destruction of civil and industrial infrastructure, and our homes.
Let us stop this horrid massacre, unnecessary both to us and the people of Ukraine. Isn't it time to leave our neighbors alone and deal with our own internal problems that are building up like a snowball? We have long ago proved to the world how brave, resilient, and peace-loving we are. So maybe that's enough already?
Leo Tolstoy wrote in a letter to his son in 1904: ‘To me, the madness, the criminality of war is so clear that apart from this madness and criminality, I cannot see anything in it.’
I too join and subscribe to these words of our great compatriot.
And so should you!”
On Jul. 8, 2022, Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in a general security penal colony for “spreading fakes” about the Russian army. Specifically, he had called the “special operation” in Ukraine a war and spoken out about the Ukrainian children who died as a result of the Russian invasion. In his reports from the penal colony, Gorinov complained of inhumane conditions: cold cells, poor nutrition, and lack of access to healthcare, which is critical, considering the political prisoner’s poor health.
In February 2023, the United Nations called for the immediate release of Gorinov, demanding that the Russian authorities conduct an independent investigation and take action against the people responsible for the illegal persecution and imprisonment of the former municipal deputy. In September 2024, Gorinov’s original seven-year sentence was reduced on appeal by one month.
As The Insider previously reported, the prosecution had asked for Gorinov to be given three and a half additional years in prison in connection with the new “terrorism justification” case.