The verdict was announced just moments after paramedics performed an electrocardiogram on the politician in the courtroom due to very high blood pressure.
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63-year-old B. Nadezhdin, who openly criticized the war in Ukraine, was charged over a 2023 video he shared that showed a photo of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is considered an extremist in Russia.
Before the session, B. Nadezhdin, who has had heart problems in the past, measured his blood pressure, which, according to a journalist from the AFP news agency present in the courtroom, appeared to be very high.
Paramedics entered the room around noon (local and Lithuanian time), about an hour after lawyers called for emergency assistance, and performed an electrocardiogram on him.
The judge, ignoring the politician’s lawyers’ requests, did not postpone the announcement of the verdict, found him guilty of displaying “extremist symbols,” and fined him 1,000 rubles (13 US dollars, 11 euros).
As a result, he will not be able to participate in this year’s parliamentary elections.
The maximum penalty for such an offense is 15 days of imprisonment.
B. Nadezhdin called the case against him nonsense and warned that if imprisoned for this charge, he would “simply die.”
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“I’m glad I’m alive (…). We live in an unhealthy state,” he said after the verdict was announced.
B. Nadezhdin, one of the few politicians in Russia still opposing the war, was campaigning to become a deputy of Mytishchi – his local electoral district – in the September elections until his arrest on Monday.
In an interview with AFP on Wednesday, he said the authorities charged him because they were worried about his popularity.
Since 2022, when it started its war against Ukraine, Russia has launched large-scale repression against dissenters, imprisoning or fining anyone who openly speaks out against the war or the Kremlin.
B. Nadezhdin was a member of the Russian parliament from 1999 to 2003 and later a member of the municipal council of his hometown Dolgoprudny, located near Moscow.
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