Oscar-Nominated Producer Alexander Rodnyansky Receives 8.5-Year Prison Sentence in Moscow Court for Anti-War Statements
variety.comChristopher Vourlias Two-time Academy Award nominee Alexander Rodnyansky (“Leviathan,” “Loveless”) was sentenced in absentia to 8.5 years in prison by a Moscow court on Monday, with the producer accusing Russian authorities of attempting to “instill more fear” among critics of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. “Dozens of Russia’s best writers and musicians have been sentenced for that purpose before me: to silence the anti-war voices,” Rodnyansky said in a statement shared with Variety.
The ruling, which was handed down in Moscow’s Basmanny District Court on Monday afternoon, sentenced Rodnyansky to 8.5 years in prison for his anti-war comments and also banned him from posting on the Internet for four years.
The court found him guilty of disseminating military “fakes,” as Russian officials characterize any statements that contradict the official narrative around the war in Ukraine, and determined his actions were motivated by “political hatred,” according to the Russian news site Mediazona.
In his statement, Rodnyansky insisted authorities had mounted a “political case” against him, adding that he had been “sentenced for talking about the atrocities of the Russian army in Bucha.” “The decision of the Moscow court is meant to instill more fear in the Russian film community and prevent them from publicly criticizing either the unjust war in Ukraine or Vladimir Putin personally,” he said.
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