Posted: 2023-02-15 14:49:46

A Russian court has sentenced a journalist to six years in prison for comments critical of Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.

The verdict is the latest in a series of high-profile rulings under new legislation that critics say is designed to criminalise criticism of the military intervention.

Maria Ponomarenko, 44, was sentenced for spreading information she knew to be false about Moscow's army, said the Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes.

The journalist was sentenced on Wednesday in the southern Siberian city of Barnaul, where she worked for the RusNews website.

The news agency wrote on its Twitter page: "The Barnaul court found Maria Ponomarenko guilty of 'spreading fakes' and sentenced her to 6 years in a penal colony.

"In addition, Maria was forbidden to engage in journalistic activities for 5 years."

She was prosecuted for a post on social media last March related to an attack on a theatre in Ukraine's port city of Mariupol that came under Russian control after a long siege.

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More than 300 people killed in the bombing of Mariupol theatre

Kyiv and its Western allies blamed Moscow for the death of hundreds of civilians in the attack, which Russia denies.

Prosecutors had requested a jail term of nine years.

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