Russian journalist Sergei Smirnov is set to spend 25 days in jail for sharing another person's tweet poking fun at his own appearance, after authorities said the post constituted an illegal call to protest because it included the date and time of an anti-government rally.
The sentence, which was handed down by Moscow's Tverskoy District Court on Wednesday, signals the Kremlin's continuing crackdown on Russian journalists amidst sweeping demanding the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Smirnov is the editor of MediaZona, an independent media site that was of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot and focuses on issues of human rights and criminal justice.
On Jan. 20, according to , Smirnov retweeted a post that joked about his own resemblance to a Russian rock musician and referred to a pro-Navalny protest planned for Jan. 23.
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— 懈屑褟 锌芯泻邪 薪械 锌褉懈写褍屑邪谢 (@nemozhenya)
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The tweet he shared did not include the protest location or any other details. Still, police on Saturday while he was out for a walk with his five-year-old son and held him in custody for several hours.
According to , authorities initially accused Smirnov of participating in the protest, but altered the charge to illegally calling on others to protest after he proved he was not in attendance.
Smirnov argued that he was retweeting a joke, not encouraging people to protest.
"A retweet does not equal endorsement," he told the judge at his hearing, according to a from the International Federation of Journalists.
The court ultimately found Smirnov guilty of violating the rules for holding public events according to the Russian administrative code, and sentenced him to "administrative arrest." Smirnov live-tweeted the trial proceedings on Wednesday, and 鈥� since by MediaZona editorial staff 鈥� has continued to of his detention.
Dozens of media outlets in Russia have for Smirnov and condemned his sentence. The International and European Federation of Journalists has also criticized the move.
"The court's sentence is not only excessive, it is also totally ridiculous," said EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Guti茅rrez. "25 days in jail for retweeting a tweet! This punishment demonstrates the determination of the Russian authorities to silence any independent voice at a time when mass demonstrations are denouncing abuses of power."
As NPR's from Moscow, Smirnov is one of many Russian journalists to be detained since the start of the protests, and President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has defended the case against him as "absolutely logical."
According to the IFJ-EFJ, Smirnov's lawyer has filed an appeal.
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