:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/UFT44ASHZ5DWXG3S3H5763OGEM.jpg "Russia charged a soldier who confessed to killing a Ukrainian civilian not for killing anyone but for spreading \"fake news.\"")
- A Russian court has convicted a soldier who admitted to killing a civilian in Ukraine.
- It's not about whether or not he killed someone, but that he talked about it.
- Daniil Frolkin has been prosecuted under Russia's "fake news" law, which makes reporting Russian atrocities illegal.
According to local media reports, a Russian court sentenced a soldier who admitted that the killing of a civilian in Ukraine was not a war crime but a violation of "fake news" law.
Daniil Frolkin received a suspended sentence from the Khabarovsk military court in eastern Russia.
Last August, Frolkin gave an interview to another news site, Top Stories, in which he admitted to killing a Ukrainian civilian in the town of Andreevka, west of Kiev.
According to knowledgeable sources, Andreevka was under Russian control between February and April 2022. The BBC reports that at least 40 people have died in the village.
In June, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office announced that Frolkin was suspected of killing a local civilian, which Frolkin initially denied.
But two hours after telling "Important Stories" for the first time, he returned with a confession and denounced his commanders. He said he was ordered to "deal" with a civilian, which he did.
"I, Corporal Guard Daniil Frolkin, a soldier of military unit 51460, confess to all the crimes that I committed in Andreevka: shooting civilians, stealing, stealing phones and refusing to surrender to our command. Our fighters, infantry are fighting in the first line”, he asked the correspondent to write down in the message.
Describing the move, Frolkin told the newspaper: “I tell you to step up. Step forward, I say "knees," he described shooting the man in the head.
The newspaper identified the alleged victim as Ruslan Yaremchuk, 47.
According to Sibir.Realii, at the time of the article's publication, Frolkin retired from the military.
Last December, the Russian authorities filed a case against him not because he killed anyone, but because of "fake news" and demanded 6 years in prison, according to Sibirya.Realligik.
His suspended sentence, handed down this week, carries a suspended sentence of five and a half years and a two-year disqualification from holding public office, the newspaper reported.
President Vladimir Putin has imposed strict controls on the discussion of the war in Ukraine, which in Russia must be classified as a "special military operation."
This contradicts the official Kremlin version of the war, in which Russia committed no atrocities and strictly avoided harming civilians.
Since last March, the law threatens up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 5 million rubles ($45,000) for anyone who spreads "false information" that "discredits" the military.
Sibir.Realliq reports that in April last year, Putin awarded the Frolkin military unit the honorary title of "Garda" for heroism and courage.
