Colombian in Russia sentenced to 5 years in prison for 'spreading fakes': he allegedly worked for an American company

Colombian citizen Alberto Enrique Giraldo Saraya was sentenced in Moscow to 5 years and 2 months in a penal colony in the case of sending fake messages about the Russian army, reports UkrInform.

Photo: IStock

The Golovinsky Court of Moscow considered the case behind closed doors. According to investigators, from March to April 2022, he placed six mobile phones in the shopping center, from which mass SMS was sent with “deliberately false messages” about the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine. In particular, according to the investigation, the mailing from Giraldo dealt with the murders of Ukrainian citizens.

“In particular, it was reported about the commission of murders of the civilian population of Ukraine by Russian military personnel, as well as about the replenishment of the regular number of troops with reservists, conscripts, foreign fighters and schoolchildren,” the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation reported.

Allegedly "fakes" for money

Giraldo was charged with spreading "fake news" by an organized group out of selfish motives. According to the plot of the case, the man committed the “crime” together with Ramirez Salazar and Briseño Mendoza – these names were named by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation in December 2022.

On the subject: US citizen sentenced to life in China: accused of espionage

The security forces believe that they transferred Giraldo funds in cryptocurrency from abroad, some of which were used to cover the expenses associated with the commission of the crime, and some were the reward of the accused.

Also, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, Mendoza, "receiving instructions from unidentified persons", passed "instructions" to Giraldo and received "reports" from him. Investigators believe that the defendants in the case acted in favor of the American organization Digital Humanity, associated with the US state Agency for International Development.

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On April 11, 2022, a Russian court imprisoned Giraldo. On December 5, 2022, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation announced the completion of the investigation against him. Mendoza and Salazar are wanted and are under investigation.

According to media reports, Giraldo was engaged in individual entrepreneurship in Russia, in the fall of 2021 he stopped his activities by his own decision. Before his arrest, the man worked in a computer company. The defendant has lived in Russia for 20 years, he has a family and two children.

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Article 207.3 (public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation) was included in the Criminal Code of Russia in March 2022. This is how the Kremlin reacted to anti-war speeches and statements, dissemination of information about the war, which is not taken from official Russian sources. The maximum penalty under the article is 15 years in prison.

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