Anti-War Radio Operator Released From Russian Prison

22 hours ago 1

An amateur radio operator jailed for broadcasting anti-war messages has been released from prison in northwestern Russia, the news website Mediazona reported Friday.

Vladimir Rumyantsev, 64, was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2022 on charges of spreading “false information” about the Russian military. He denied the charges and was designated a political prisoner by the Memorial human rights group.

Speaking after his release from a penal colony in the town of Ustyuzhna, around 340 kilometers (211 miles) north of Moscow, Rumyantsev said his time behind bars went “smoothly.”

“[But] God forbid others land here,” he added. “What’s ahead is unknown — I don’t know how life will unfold yet.”

Before his imprisonment, Rumyantsev worked various jobs, including at factories, as a trolleybus operator and at a boiler facility.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Rumyantsev began using a radio transmitter to broadcast content from independent media outlets, including Meduza, Ekho Moskvy and the Russian-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

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