Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday over a social media post about the Russian bombing of the Mariupol theater in Ukraine
RusNews, the outlet that employed Ponomarenko, wrote on its Telegram channel that a Siberian court ordered her to serve the prison sentence and barred her from journalistic activities for five years.
She was convicted of spreading "fake news" under Russian laws designed to suppress dissent over the invasion of Ukraine.
Ponomarenko addressed the court before her sentencing.
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"Had I committed a real crime then it would be possible to ask for leniency, but again, due to my moral and ethical qualities, I would not do this," she said. "No totalitarian regime has ever been as strong as before its collapse."
Ponomarenko said in a March 17, 2022 Telegram post Russian forces bombed the Mariupol theater where hundreds of civilians were sheltering.
That bombing killed hundreds of Ukrainian civilians. An Amnesty International report in June 2022 said the attack was a war crime.
Amnesty International said in a statement, that Ponomarenko's sentence "shows that in Russia telling the truth, denouncing a war crime and demanding justice for the killing of civilians, has itself become a grave offense punishable by many years in prison."
"Her sentence is yet another example of injustice and the cynicism of the authorities in Russia, which are disturbingly routine. The authorities are trying to lock up all those who disagree with them and intimidate others to stay silent and look the other way rather than risk years behind bars," it said.
