A Russian stand-up comedian was sentenced to a penal colony on Wednesday, Feb. 4, for a nearly six-year sentence.
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Moscow-based Artemy Ostanin received the punishment for a joke he told about a veteran of the war in Ukraine. The soldier had lost his legs, and the comedian referred to him as a "legless skater."
According to CBS News, the judgment is the latest in a crackdown on those who question the war in Ukraine.
Calls For the Comedian to Be Punished Increased
As pro-Kremlin leaders and Russian media shared a clip of the joke online, the calls for Ostanin to be punished for making fun of wounded Russian soldiers increased.
Another joke Ostanin made about religion also landed the 29-year-old in hot water. He was found guilty of inciting hatred and insulting religious feelings.
"The final sentence for Ostanin is imprisonment for five years and nine months in a general regime penal colony," said Judge Olesya Mendeleyeva.
The comedian denied that his joke about the wounded soldier was meant to allude to veterans of the "special military operation," the term used by Russian leaders for the war in Ukraine.
"I hope no one ever finds themselves in the same situation of brutal legal abuse that I did," said Ostanin in court.
Russia Has Been Cracking Down on Critics
Russia started a campaign to silence dissenters around the same time it launched the war in Ukraine in 2022. For example, Ostanin was added to Moscow's list of terrorists and extremists.
The 18-year-old street musician Diana Loginova was sentenced to jail for a third time by a Russian court last November.
In 2024, a doctor was also sentenced to five and a half years in prison for criticizing the war in Ukraine in front of a patient. He was convicted of spreading false information about the Russian military.
Ukrainian singer Susana Jamaladinova was placed on Russia's wanted list for a similar incident in November 2023. In that same month, Sasha Skochilenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for swapping price tags with anti-war messages.
Earlier that year, journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza was also sentenced to 25 years in a high-security prison for treason. He had been a vocal opponent of the war in Ukraine.
