A Cherkessk lawyer was convicted in absentia for allegedly raising fake news about the army.

A court in Cherkessk sentenced lawyer and activist Ramazan Mkhtse in absentia to eight years in prison, finding him guilty of disseminating false information about the Russian military motivated by political hatred.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in May 2023, it became known that a report had been drawn up against Cherkessk resident Ramazan Mkhtse for discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation. The court then returned the case to the police for correction. Later, in July 2023, the court dismissed the case due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The United Press Service of the Courts of Karachay-Cherkessia reported today on a verdict in absentia for fake news about the Russian Armed Forces, motivated by political hatred. In a publication on the official Telegram channel, the convicted man is referred to as "citizen M." However, his full name, Ramazan Mkhtse, is listed in the case file on the Cherkessk City Court website.

According to the prosecution, on February 21, 2023, the man published a video on YouTube titled "Time to Change! No to War!" The video contained "his knowingly false oral statements," according to the court's press service.

The court concluded that the accused, in publishing the video, acted out of political hatred, pursuing the goal of "forming a negative attitude toward the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and state bodies in general on the territory of Ukraine."

The court sentenced Mkhtse to eight years in a general regime penal colony in absentia, since, as stated in the publication, he "is hiding outside the Russian Federation and is on the international wanted list." According to information on the court's website, Ramazan Mkhtse's case was filed on September 29, and the verdict was handed down on December 2.

A few days before the case was sent to court, on September 25, the 38-year-old Cherkessk native's details were added to the Rosfinmonitoring register of terrorists and extremists, according to a message from a bot tracking updates to the list.

Ramazan Mkhtse is a lawyer and activist for organizations dedicated to preserving the Abaza ethnic group. As vice president of the International Association for the Development of the Abaza-Abkhaz Ethnicity "Alashara," he was awarded an honorary diploma by the People's Assembly of Karachay-Cherkessia in 2021, according to a publication on the republic's parliament's official website.

The video that prompted the case is still available on Ramazan Mkhtse's YouTube channel, which has over 1,300 subscribers. The recording is a video message from the activist, recorded on a street near the Kremlin. "First, the Russian authorities killed ordinary Muslims in the Caucasus, like the Gasanguseinov brothers, for example, and we all understood that something was fishy there, but they were looking for an excuse for themselves and the security services (...) Then they [a] innocent old people were jailed in Ingushetia because they went out to a peaceful rally for their land. "Deep down, we knew these people were innocent," Mkhtse said.

He notes that he feared persecution for his pacifist statements and even deleted some posts. "I call on all Russian citizens to oppose this regime - if not through active action, then at least through silent sabotage and boycott," the activist said in a video.

As of 9:20 p.m. Moscow time on December 5, Ramazan Mkhtse had not commented on the verdict on his social media. However, on October 19, he commented on the criminal prosecution for discrediting the army.

"There is and has never been any 'hatred or hostility' in my words or actions. Quite the contrary, I am for peace and dialogue. But in a country of thoughtcrimes, as we know, everything is the opposite." I am convinced that every person has the right to think and speak what they feel (as long as it is not a public call for violent action). (...) As a former lawyer, I can say that all these new articles in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, although they are now temporarily law, are not law in the true sense of the word,” he wrote on his Facebook page**.

* are included in the register of foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.