Opposition politician Ilya Yashin, one of the few remaining voices in Russia prepared to speak out against Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine, was sentenced to eight and a half years in jail in Moscow this Friday.
Once that is over, the 39-year-old will also be barred from posting anything online for a further four. The judge told him he would be able to get his iPhone 11 back after that.
From his glass cage, Yashin thanked her. “I appreciate your sense of humour,” he said, smiling.
The verdict is hardly a surprise. In a powerful closing statement on Monday, Yashin, who is declared a foreign agent in Russia, had addressed the judge saying she knew he was not guilty and that he in turn knew what kind of pressure the system put on her.
He bore her no grudge for the inevitable guilty verdict, he said. “But it is better to spend 10 years behind bars as an honest man than silently burning with shame for the blood that your government sheds.”
His main crime in the eyes of the state was to publish a video on his YouTube channel documenting the Russian army’s alleged crimes in Bucha, a city in Ukraine, to his almost 1.4 million followers.
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But the lengthy verdict, issued in the speeded-up monotone characteristic of all Russian judges, provided a comprehensive summary of the many criticisms Yashin has made online and in person against President Putin, the regime’s pernicious use of propaganda, and what Yashin has called this “monstrous war”.
A friend and political associate of Alexei Navalny, Yashin is the most high-profile figure to be sentenced under the raft of fake news legislation introduced in March after the invasion of Ukraine.
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It is also the longest sentence handed out under the legislation, although 366 people have been fined or jailed to date for supposedly discrediting the Russian armed forces, according to the human rights group OVD-Info.
Yashin’s father held his hands in his face as the verdict was read out. Outside the court he told Sky News “we won’t break and he won’t break”.
A small group of supporters chanted “Russia will be free”, the traditional slogan at anti-Putin rallies, many of which Yashin and Navalny had led.
At a press conference in Bishkek, President Putin was asked to comment on Yashin’s sentence. “Who’s he?” he replied, before adding that he did not think it appropriate to question court decisions.
A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.
An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.
They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.
Image: Police at the scene. Pic: AP
Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.
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A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.
In mid-May, the World Health Organisation assessed that there were “nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death”.
“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” its report concluded.
Warning: This article contains images of an emaciated child which some readers may find distressing
Israel‘s decision this week to reverse the siege and allow “a basic level of aid” into Gaza should help ease the immediate crisis.
But the number of aid trucks getting in, so far fewer than 100 per day, is considered dramatically too few by aid organisations working in Gaza, and the United Nations accuses Israel of continuing to block vital items.
“Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in New York on Friday.
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“Essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies, are prohibited. Nothing has reached the besieged north.”
Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies.
Image: Baby Aya at Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza is dangerously thin
“Today, we receive between 300 to 500 cases daily, with approximately 10% requiring admission. This volume of inpatient cases far exceeds the capacity of Rantisi hospital, as the facility is not equipped to accommodate such large numbers,” Jall al Barawi, a doctor at the hospital, told us.
At least 94% of the hospitals have sustained some damage, some considerable, according to the UN.
Image: Jall al Barawi, a doctor at Rantisi hospital
Paramedic crews are close to running out of fuel to drive ambulances.
The lack of food, after an 11-week blockade, has left thousands malnourished and increasingly vulnerable to surviving injuries or recovering from other conditions.
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Our team in Gaza filmed with baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza. She is now three months old and dangerously thin.
Her skin stretches over her cheekbones and eye sockets on her gaunt, pale face. Her nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Image: Aya’s nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Lethal spiral
Her mother Sundush, who is only 19 herself, cannot get enough food to produce breastmilk. Baby formula is scarce.
Aya, like so many other young children, cannot get the vital nutrition she needs to grow and develop.
It’s a lethal spiral.
Image: This is what Aya looked like shortly after she was born
“My daughter was born at a normal weight, 3.5kg,” Sundush tells us.
“But as the war went on, her weight dropped significantly. I would breastfeed her, she’d get diarrhoea. I tried formula – same result. With the borders closed and no food coming in, I can’t eat enough to give her the nutrients she needs.”
“I brought her to the hospital for treatment, but the care she needs isn’t available.
“The doctor said her condition is very serious. I really don’t want to lose her, because I lost my husband and she’s all I have left of him. I don’t want to lose her.”
Some of the aid entering Gaza now is being looted. It is hard to know whether that is by Hamas or desperate civilians. Maybe a combination of the two.
The lack of aid creates an atmosphere of desperation, which eventually leads to a breakdown in security as everyone fights to secure food for themselves and their families.
Only by alleviating the desperation can the security situation improve, and the risk of famine abate.
Twelve people are reported to have been injured after a knife attack at Hamburg’s central train station.
A “major operation” has been launched and a suspect was arrested, police said in a post on X.
The identity of the suspect has not been revealed.
Reports in Germany said the suspected attacker was a woman.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
Bild newspaper said the motive for the attack was so far unknown.
Hamburg is Germany’s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
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