Boris Akunin Sentenced to 14 Years in Absentia by Moscow Military Court

The Second Western District Military Court in Moscow sentenced Boris Akunin to 14 years in a high-security penal colony. The prosecutor had requested an 18-year prison sentence, reports Orda.kz.

The trial lasted one day. Akunin, who lives abroad, did not participate in the proceedings. The writer was also banned from administering websites and online channels for four years after serving his sentence and was fined 400,000 rubles.

As reported by Mediazona, Boris Akunin was charged under three articles of the Russian Criminal Code: for assisting terrorist activities, for justifying terrorism, and for evading the duties of a foreign agent.

The prosecution claimed that Akunin had posted “no fewer than 33 materials” in his Telegram channel without the foreign agent disclaimer.

Boris Akunin was accused of justifying terrorism over a Telegram post from February 18, 2024.

I was an evolutionist for a long time, but now I am for revolution because there is no other way to get rid of the dictatorship. There are no elections and won’t be, opponents are either killed by the regime or rotting in prison. Yes, revolution is an explosion. But in history there are such blockages that can only be cleared by an explosion,
Akunin wrote in that post.

The charge of “assisting terrorist activity” was based on the writer’s conversation with pranksters Vovan and Lexus, who introduced themselves as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko.

During the conversation, which was recorded without Akunin’s knowledge, he supported humanitarian cooperation between Russian and Ukrainian cultural figures, called for efforts to encourage Russian soldiers to surrender, and discussed drone attacks on Russian territory.

Boris Akunin (real name Grigory Chkhartishvili) is the author of numerous novels and novellas that have long been bestsellers, such as the Erast Fandorin series and Azazel. He left Russia back in 2014.

On December 15, 2023, it was reported that Russia’s largest publishing house, AST, was cutting ties with Akunin and another writer, Dmitry Bykov, and withdrawing all their books from sale. Rosfinmonitoring added the writer to the register of “terrorists and extremists,” and the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case.

Akunin has been placed on the international wanted list.

Original Author: Oksana Matvienko