Ilya Vasilyev in court. Photo: Mediazona

A court in Moscow sentenced a programmer and Buddhist leader to eight years in prison on Wednesday after finding him guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian military — charges stemming from a single social media post in English criticising Vladimir Putin’s refusal to declare a Christmas ceasefire in 2022, independent media outlet Mediazona has reported.

Ilya Vasilyev, a 51-year-old programmer and self-declared head of the Moscow Zen Centre, which he founded and ran from his apartment, was detained in June 2024 and charged for the social media post from 25 December 2022, in which he shared a painting by Ukrainian artist Irenaeus Yurchuk, accompanied by a message in English:

“Putin rejected a Christmas armistice,” the post read. “His rockets are right now shelling peaceful Ukrainian cities and towns. Only yesterday, 16 people died in Kherson, where my father’s family lives. Or lived?” he wrote, criticising Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.

Federal Security Service investigators used a machine translation of the post to argue that Vasilyev had knowingly spread “false information” about the Russian army, and claimed that his message qualified as fake news “motivated by political hatred”, a charge his supporters have disputed given Vasilyev’s Buddhist beliefs and pacifist stance.

Vasilyev maintained his innocence throughout the trial, telling the court that his post was a plea for peace, not a political statement. According to human rights group OVD-Info, Vasilyev was not allowed to see a Buddhist priest, was denied medical care, and was unable to have any letters sent from his detention centre while in pretrial custody.

“Accusing a Buddhist of hatred is like saying a newspaper got soaked in fire,” Vasilyev said during the court proceedings, according to Mediazona. He also noted that the painting he shared, depicting religious icons, was meant to inspire “hope and reconciliation”.