Boris’s appeal rejected, but the struggle for his freedom continues!

On June 5, the Judicial Collegium for Military Personnel of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation rejected Boris Kagarlitsky’s appeal against a five-year jail term imposed on him by a lower court for “justifying terrorism”.

The court also maintained the ban preventing him from managing internet sites and telecommunications channels for two years from the end of his prison sentence.

The judges refused to change that sentence despite a special appeal from 37 internationally prominent progressive political figures and intellectuals, including Spanish deputy prime minister Yolanda Díaz, Yanis Varoufakis, Jeremy Corbyn and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, as well as ministers in the Spanish government and MPs from France, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and Brazil (see here, in English).

Boris also received offers of university postings in Brazil and South Africa, while our petition demanding his release and that of all Russian anti-war political prisoners has attracted more than 18,000 signatures to date.

All to no avail! Boris Kagarlitsky has become the victim of a gross but entirely deliberate perversion of the course of justice on the part of the Russian authorities. He is a courageous champion of peace and symbol of the struggle for the right to freedom of expression.

The fight to free him continues! Keep circulating this petition on your social networks! Keep up your financial support to our campaign for Boris Kagarlitsky’s freedom and for that of all other Russian anti-war political prisoners!