A Russian military court has sentenced a volunteer at the makeshift memorial to slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov to 12 years in prison for his involvement with the Ukrainian military, the independent news website Mediazonareported Wednesday.Yevgeny Mishchenko, who was among those who kept watch at a Moscow bridge near the Kremlin where Nemtsov was shot dead, was arrested in September 2023 on charges of participating in terrorist activities.Mediazona reports that the evidence against Mishchenko was collected by an undercover police officer disguised as another Nemtsov memorial volunteer who recorded their conversations.Mishchenko was accused of planning to join the Freedom of Russia Legion, a paramilitary unit of Russian citizens fighting against Russian troops in Ukraine, filming Russian military sites on their behalf and offering them a plot of land to deploy missile launchers.Mishchenko, who claimed he was severely beaten while in police custody, denies his guilt even though he agrees with the facts in his case.
He argues the charges against him are politically motivated, and that the evidence against him was obtained illegally.Moscows Second Western Military Garrison Court found Mishchenko guilty of participating in a terrorist organization and ordered him to spend 12 years in a maximum-security prison colony.Prosecutors requested a 16-year prison sentence for Mishchenko earlier Wednesday.