A defiant anti-war student who was imprisoned for opposing Putin’s war told how “tens of millions” of Russians are against their “criminal” president.
Dmitry Ivanov, a 23-year-old student, spoke from a Moscow court predicting the "dictator's downfall".
Since, the Moscow State University student has been threatened with rape with a baton and castration by supporters of Vladimir Putin.
Inside of prison, Ivanov’s head was forced into a toilet and he has repeatedly been beaten up, said his lawyer Maria Eismont.
A judge jailed Ivanov for eight and a half years in a penal colony for online criticisms of the war.
Before being led away to start his sentence, Ivanov stood in court and gave his statement that "Putin was threatening the whole world not just Russia".
“Putin wants to show that his power has no limits, But that's not true. I'm not afraid,” he said.
“You must understand that Russia is not Putin, we didn't vote for him and he did not ask us about starting this war with our closest neighbours,” he said.
“Tens of millions of people here in Russia are against this criminal war. Lots of of us have friends and relatives in Ukraine and we feel their pain.”
“This war is a great tragedy for all the Ukrainian people, but also for Russians who want to live in peace with their neighbours, and who are suffering just now under the dictatorship.
“Today is a dark moment in our history. But the darkest moment is always [before the] sunrise."
His conviction under the country's law prevents criticism of Putin’s war was "ridiculous and absurd”.
Ivanov adds: "We love our country and this is why it particularly hurts and we feel ashamed of what [it’s been doing in Ukraine].”
The guilty are those led by Vladimur Putin "who started and are conducting [the war], on those who follow criminal orders”.
He also blamed those who facilitate “these crimes by carrying out repressions on their own people, creating the atmosphere of fear and intolerance”.
Ivanov was convicted by a Moscow court of spreading “fake” information about Russian troops shelling civilians in Mariupol, and highlighting atrocities by Putin’s forces in Bucha and elsewhere.
His mother Elena said: “A person should not be jailed for his beliefs.
She believes that the verdict will certainly be overturned.
“Sooner or later it will be cancelled” she said.
The story comes as earlier this week, Kremlin chiefs have ordered Russian school textbooks to be rewritten to brainwash children into hero-worshipping President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion.
The schoolbooks are being altered to include a positive outlook on the full-scale invasion, painting many soldiers as heroes of the motherland.
It comes as war crimes investigators are probing thousands of atrocities committed by Russian troops, including rape, abduction, torture and murder.
Well over 150,000 Russian troops are said to have been killed in the war which is now in its second year - and 3,423 of Moscow’s tanks have been destroyed.
