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Kremlin critic jailed for three more years over Ukraine war opposition

Getty Images Moscow city deputy Alexei Gorinov stands inside a glass cell during the verdict hearing in his trial at a courthouse in Moscow in July 2022Getty Images
Alexei Gorinov was punished for questioning whether his Moscow district should hold a children's drawing competition while "children are dying in Ukraine"

A Moscow councillor serving time in jail for speaking out against Russia's war in Ukraine has been given an additional three years in prison.

Alexei Gorinov, 63, was jailed for seven years in 2022 after he was filmed criticising the invasion in a city council meeting.

At the time, he was believed to be the first person to be sentenced under laws targeting dissents following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

On Friday, Gorinov appeared at a court in the city of Vladimir to be sentenced for charges of "justifying terrorism".

A judge also ordered that Gorinov be moved to a stricter prison facility.

Gorinov has been jailed for a further three years, after a second case was put against him. He is accused of criticising Russia's offensive while in a prison hospital, AFP news agency reported.

Prosecutors said last winter Gorinov tried to convince inmates with what they called the "ideology of terrorism".

Gorinov's defence said authorities put notorious prisoners with him - a convicted robber and rapist - who they said recorded their conversations with him.

"I am for peace and you like war," Gorinov said after the sentence was announced, according to the Mediazona website.

Gorinov also called for Russia to end its almost three-year offensive and asked Ukrainians for forgiveness.

"Let's stop this slaughter that nobody needs - not us, not the citizens of Ukraine," he said.

"The guilt that I have is that I, as a citizen of my country, let this war happen and was not able to stop it."

The opposition councillor was arrested in late April 2022, more than a month after he addressed a district meeting in the Krasnoselsky area of north-east Moscow.

At the meeting Gorinov objected to the idea of a children's drawing contest being held when children were dying in Ukraine.

He had also tried to start the council meeting with a moment's silence to remember the victims.

Another opposition councillor who supported his remarks has since fled Russia.