Once again Boris Kagarlitsky requires our solidarity.

On June 5, 2024 the Russian Supreme Court’s Military Chamber rejected Boris Kagarlitsky’s appeal against his five year prison sentence for “justifying terrorism.” Kagarlitsky must now remain confined to a penal colony in Torzhok, some 155 miles northwest of Moscow. The decision was unjust, but not unexpected, and will be contested.

Kagarlitsky was initially jailed in July 2023 and held for nearly five months in pretrial detention. He was charged with “justifying terrorism” for ironic remarks he made on his social media channel after the 2022 explosion on the Crimean Bridge. In December 2023, a military court freed him after imposing a fine. But in February 2024, in an unexpected appeal trial, prosecutors overturned the December verdict, citing excessive leniency.