Russian man jailed for burning Koran charged with treason

3/10/2024 18:08

        A Russian man jailed in February for burning the Koran has been charged with treason by prosecutors who accuse him of passing video footage of military movements to Ukraine.
        
        In a statement, Russia's prosecutor general's office said that 20-year-old Nikita Zhuravel was accused of sending footage of a freight train carrying warplanes, and information about the movements of a car linked to a Russian military base to a representative of Ukrainian intelligence.
        
        It said Zhuravel had volunteered himself to send the Ukrainian intelligence officer the data.
        
        Zhuravel is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence after being convicted under Russia's law against offending religious believers, for publicly burning a Koran in his home city of Volgograd.
        
        His case drew international attention last year when Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov published a video in which his son Adam was shown beating and kicking the defendant while he was in prison awaiting trial.