Kremlin critic Alexei Gorinov has been sentenced to another three years for opposing the war in Ukraine

A Moscow councilor serving time in prison for speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine has had his sentence extended to three years.

Alexei Gorinov, 63, was jailed for seven years in 2022 after he was filmed condemning the attack at a city council meeting.

At the time, he is believed to be the first person to be sentenced under laws targeting dissidents following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

On Friday, Gorinov appeared in the Vladimir city court to be sentenced on charges of “condoning terrorism”.

The judge also ordered Gorinov to be sent to a strict prison.

Gorinov was sentenced to another three years in prison, after a second trial. He is accused of criticizing Russia’s actions while in a prison hospital, AFP news agency reported.

Prosecutors say that last winter Gorinov tried to convince the prisoners with what they called “terrorist ideas”.

Gorinov’s defense said the authorities had placed with him known prisoners – a convicted rapist – who said they were recording their conversations with him.

“I fight for peace and you love war,” Gorinov said after the sentence was announced, according to the Mediazona website.

Gorinov also called for Russia to end its almost three-year offensive and asked for forgiveness from the Ukrainian people.

“Let’s stop this needless killing – not us, not the citizens of Ukraine,” he said.

“My guilt is that I, as a citizen of my country, allowed this war to happen and I could not stop it.”

I the opposition councilor was arrested in late April 2022more than a month after he addressed a village meeting in the Krasnoselsky district northeast of Moscow.

At the meeting, Gorinov opposed the idea of ​​holding a children’s drawing competition when children die in Ukraine.

He even tried to start the council meeting with a moment of silence to remember the victims.

Another opposition councilor who supported his words has fled to Russia.