A Moscow court has sentenced journalist and LGBTQ+ rights advocate Karen Shainyan, now in exile, to five years in prison in absentia for charges related to extremism, according to the exiled news outlet Mediazona on Thursday.
Shainyan was accused by Russian prosecutors of “financing extremist activities” by donating 2,000 rubles (approximately $24.60) to the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny in January and February 2022.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation, along with Navalny’s broader political network, was labeled as “extremist” by Russian authorities in 2021.
On Thursday, the Savyolovsky District Court in Moscow convicted Shainyan of financing extremism and issued the sentence in absentia.
Earlier that day, prosecutors had sought a six-year prison term for the 44-year-old Shainyan in absentia. Sentences handed down in absentia generally come into effect only if the accused is extradited to Russia.
As reported by Mediazona, Shainyan’s lawyer argued that the prosecution did not establish, beyond reasonable doubt, that his client had executed the alleged wire transfers and questioned the validity of the evidence presented in court.
Shainyan, who has a YouTube channel with 207,000 subscribers and is currently based in Germany, has not publicly addressed his prison sentence.
In April 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated Shainyan as a “foreign agent.” Additionally, in July 2023, Russia’s financial monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring, included Shainyan on its list of “terrorists and extremists,” well over a year before details of the criminal charges against him were made public.
