The district court in Kharkiv convicted a collaborator programmer for justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Born in Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, Kharkiv Oblast, he works as a software engineer at Impulse, a private company. According to the case file, from March to June 2022, the IT specialist distributed publications on the Pikabu website denying the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine.

For instance, on March 23, 2022, the man published a post with the following text:

“I want to highlight the “PR” of the “people,” or rather the more foolish part of the “people. In the territories outside of Kyiv’s subordination, they actively push through rallies, saying, “This is Ukraine! Especially if there are “invaders” nearby, we need to shout harder, and wave the flag(by the way, where did they get so many big flags? I don’t even have a small one, and there are two-meter canvasses. Could it be that someone gave them away for a better picture? Then these rallies are a setup, too. No, it’s not. What kind of reaction would a man with a gun have to such a concert?”

He shared his thoughts on Ukrainians who, in the first days of the full-scale invasion, called on Russians to come out to protest:

“You love to howl for freedom, but at the same time you do not notice the stable in which you live”; “about the rallies – rightly noted by someone: in the beginning there was a lot of howling about “Russians, if you are not beasts, then come out to a rally in support against the war. Why Russians?”; “why are you fighting so actively (on the Internet behind the screen), but no war has been declared,” “why is there mobilization, which you are hiding from… and again no war?”; “why has Ukraine stopped supplying electricity and communications to many ‘temporarily occupied territories’?”

The District Court found the programmer guilty and sentenced him to 11 years of deprivation of the right to hold positions in state and local government bodies and engage in activities related to the provision of public services.

See also: Former head of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast to face lifelong imprisonment. Roman Dudin was aware of the high probability of a full-scale Russian invasion on the eve of 24 February. However, instead of organizing resistance, he sabotaged it. This harmed defence capability and state security.

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