A Siberian taxi driver has been sentenced to prison on charges of justifying terrorism for praising last year’s deadly mosque shooting in New Zealand online, Interfax reported Wednesday.
The March 2019 shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand left 51 worshippers dead and wounded dozens more. A suspected white supremacist now faces murder and terrorism charges for the attack.
A court in the Siberian city of Omsk sentenced the unnamed local man to two and a half years in prison after finding him guilty of public calls for terrorist activity, Interfax reported.
The defendant was previously identified as a 47-year-old taxi driver.
The convict “had spoken approvingly of the mass murder and viewed the criminal’s actions toward a specific group of citizens as necessary,” Interfax quoted the regional FSB office as saying.
He was also reportedly found guilty of calling for an armed overthrow of the Russian government and “its specific representatives.”
The man had pleaded guilty to the charges, Interfax reported.
The Omsk court also banned him from posting anything online for the duration of his sentence, the report said.