INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a man to five years in prison over rare opposition protests in the Urals republic of Bashkortostan.A
court in the city of Orsk said in a statement that a 50-year-old man had been found guilty of "participating in mass unrest" and "violence
against law enforcement officers" in the central republic.The defendant pleaded guilty, the court said, without giving his name.RusNews
website named him as Ilchat Ulyubayev, saying prosecutors had requested a 10-year jail term.According to the court, the defendant took part
in winter protests in front of a court in the small town of Baymak over the jailing of a prominent local opposition activist, Fail
Alsynov.Thousands gathered at the protests in January, shaking regional authorities because they erupted just a few weeks before
presidential elections that re-elected Vladimir Putin.Such protests have become exceedingly rare in Russia, where there has been a harsh
crackdown on any displays of dissent since the launch of the Ukraine offensive in 2022.Bashkortostan has a population largely made up of
Bashkirs and Tatar, two Turkic Muslim ethnic groups.Numerous men from the region have gone to fight in Ukraine and it has suffered among the
highest numbers of fatalities, according to estimates by independent media.Alsynov, an environmental activist who also campaigned to
preserve the Bashkir language, was jailed after criticizing the Ukraine offensive.He was convicted of "inciting hatred" in a speech against
mining and jailed for four years.According to NGOs familiar with the situation, at least 80 people have been arrested in Bashkortostan over
the protests, and are facing criminal prosecution and potentially severe penalties.Two protesters are believed to have died under detention
in unclear circumstances and another detainee suffered a broken vertebra, relatives told local media.
