Russias Supreme Court maintained the four-year jail sentence for nationalist and former rebel commander Igor Girkin, his partner and Russian media reported Wednesday.Girkin, a convicted war bad guy in the West and better known by his alias Igor Strelkov, was convicted of inciting extremism in January.
The 53-year-old was arrested last summer season after he criticized President Vladimir Putins handling of the Ukraine war.The Jan.
25, 2024, Moscow City Court decision and the May 29, 2024, appellate court ruling were left unchanged; the defenses cassation appeal was not maintained, Russias Supreme Court stated, according to the Interfax news agency.The Supreme Court, like the 2 lower courts before it, deliberated behind closed doors.Following reports that he may seek a pardon and possible implementation in Ukraine, Strelkov stated in September he had no plans to confess regret or request a pardon from Putin.Girkin commanded a pro-Russian separatist militia in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and played a main function in Russias annexation of Crimea.In November 2022, a Dutch court sentenced him in absentia to life in prison for the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 travelers and team.