On 16 May 2024, Russian media reported that a court in the far eastern city of Birobijan had sentenced local journalist Sergey Kornilevsky to 2.5 years of prison on charges of “justifying terrorism”. Kornilevsky would have been found guilty for a publication on Facebook in which he criticized mobilization, according to an anonymous friend of the journalist, who told local independent outlet Sibir.Realii that the post is not visible to the public, as it had only been published for Kornilevsky’s Facebook friends. No additional details on the post were available.
Independent Russian outlets describe Kornilevsky as a journalist who previously worked for Russian state-owned media corporation VGTRK, reporting mainly on cultural events. He was 60 years old at the time of his conviction.