MOSCOW. Oct 29 (Interfax) - The Lyublinsky District Court of Moscow has found Pavel Rebrovsky, implicated in the New Greatness case, guilty of creating an extremist community and sentenced him to six years in a penal colony, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom on Thursday.
"Rebrovsky is found guilty of the commission of a crime envisaged by Part 1 of Article 282.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (creation of an extremist community). He is sentenced to six years in a penal colony," Judge Vladimir Kuznetsov said in his decision.
Rebrovsky was taken into custody in the courtroom. His defense lawyers are expected to appeal.
He was also given additional punishment in the form of one year of freedom restriction and was banned from using the Internet for three years.
The prosecutors had been seeking seven years in prison for Rebrovsky.
Rebrovsky initially made a deal with the investigators, admitted guilt and received 2.5 years in a penal colony. However, he later recanted his testimony, and his case was tried again.
On August 6, the Lyublinsky District Court of Moscow gave seven members of New Greatness sentences ranging from a suspended prison sentence of four years to seven years in a penal colony. The seven people were found guilty of creating an extremist community.
The investigators found that the activists had wanted to overthrow the constitutional system and install an interim government. Defense lawyers said the charge was based on testimony by security officials embedded in the group as part of operative actions.
The defense lawyers for the convicts and the state prosecutors appealed the sentence. The prosecutor asked that a technical error be corrected, saying that "a technical error in the unit of measurement was made in the sentencing when handing down punishment to some convicts." Defense lawyers said they found the sentence too harsh and demanded that their clients be acquitted.
Another New Greatness member, Rustam Rustamov, who admitted guilt, was earlier given a suspended sentence of two years in prison.
Sergei Gavrilov, a defendant in the main case, fled from under house arrest in October 2019, after which the court placed him on the wanted list and issued an arrest warrant for him in absentia. According to media reports, Gavrilov is now in Ukraine.