Russian Poet Gets 7 Years In Prison For Anti-War Verses

Aleksandr Byvshev (file photo)

The OVD-Info rights group said on March 21 that a court in Moscow had sentenced poet Aleksandr Byvshev to seven years in prison on a charge of calling for terrorism and distributing false news about Russia's military. The charges stem from poems Byvshev wrote that contain verses condemning Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The verses end with a sentence: "Hey Russia, where is your Stauffenberg?" Claus von Stauffenberg was a Nazi German military officer who led a failed attempt in 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Investigators say by mentioning Stauffenberg in his poem, Byvshev called for the assassination of President Vladimir Putin. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.