Russian security forces responded to a 67-year-old pensioner’s anti-war commentary on social media by breaking down his door, murdering his cat as an intimidation tactic, and charging him with “inciting terrorism,” according to a local lawmaker. Takhir Arslanov was sentenced to three years behind bars Wednesday for two comments he made on social media. Svetlana Kaverzina, a municipal deputy in Novosibirsk who attended Arslanov’s sentencing hearing, said she’d asked him if he had any pets at home that needed to be taken care of. “It turns out there was a cat; it was killed during the raid. An element of intimidation, probably,” she wrote on Telegram. During Arslanov’s trial, prosecutors called to the stand two soldiers who said they suffered “negative emotions” upon seeing Arslanov’s anti-war remarks.
