Altan Ochirov, former employee of Elista Mayoralty, sentenced to three years for "fakes about Russian Army"

The court sentenced Altan Ochirov, a former employee of the Mayoralty of Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, to three years of freedom deprivation after finding him guilty of spreading fakes about Russian militaries. Ochirov refused to plead guilty and intends to appeal against the verdict.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 13 this year, the court arrested Ochirov, who was accused of spreading false information about the Russian Armed Forces. The prosecutor then demanded seven years in prison for him.

According to investigators, Altan Ochirov posted a video in the "Volny Ulus" Telegram channel showing the shelling of a car with pensioners by militaries, and also posted messages about the flood of the landing ship, looting and the number of Russia's losses during the first days of the special operation. This was reported by the "Network Freedoms"* project in its Telegram channel with reference to Igor Koldunov, an advocate.

The prosecutor's office asserts that Ochirov had spread the above information in order to "incite ethnic and political strife" and create an image of Russian militaries as "the enemies supporting the Russia's leadership headed by President Vladimir Putin."

On October 4, human rights defenders announced that a criminal case was opened against Erentsen Dolyaev, a Kalmyk activist and member of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People, who is a wheelchair invalid, for spreading "fakes" about the Russian Army motivated by hatred. The reason for initiating the case was in his posts placed in the "Volny Ulus" Telegram channel.