Russia Jails Woman Whose Neighbour Alleged Army Criticism

A Russian court on Tuesday jailed a woman for more than five years for criticising the army on social media, allegedly after she was denounced by her neighbour.

Anna Aleksandrova, a 47-year-old hairdresser, was arrested in November 2023 over posts she made under a pseudonym on VKontakte, Russia's largest social network.

Prosecutors accused her of giving information about how to avoid military mobilisation, and of posting information critical of Moscow's Ukraine offensive.

Russia has opened hundreds of criminal cases against its citizens for spreading "fake news" about the army since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Saint Petersburg's Pushkinsky District Court gave her a prison sentence of five years and two months, and banned her from using social media for three years afterwards, the court's press service said on Telegram.

Aleksandrova pleaded not guilty at the trial, saying she was set up by a neighbour with whom she was embroiled in a land dispute, according to the Mediazona news outlet.

She has a son and daughter and had been in pre-trial detention for over a year.

She told the Current Time news outlet that investigators broke down the front door to her apartment during her arrest, and that one of them threatened to "destroy" her and her son.

Her health has deteriorated since her incarceration, Mediazona reported.

Since launching its offensive in Ukraine, Moscow has waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that rights groups have likened to Soviet-era mass repression.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)