A Moscow court has given Igor Girkin, the ex-leader of pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine and a former security officer, a four-year prison term on extremism charges related to his criticism of Russia’s war tactics in Ukraine.

The criminal case against Girkin, who is a convicted war criminal in the West, shows how Moscow’s intolerance for criticism of its invasion has affected even the war’s most aggressive supporters.

The Moscow City Court convicted Girkin, 53, of “publicly inciting extremist activity” and gave him four years in a medium-security prison colony, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency said from the courtroom.

The charges can lead to a maximum of five years.

Many of Girkin’s army friends and supporters were outside the court waiting for his sentencing as they were not allowed to go inside the building, a Moscow Times reporter at the scene said.

“A true Russian patriot must be here today,” one of Girkin’s supporters, who did not give his name, told The Moscow Times.

“I respect Strelkov, even though he has different views, but I respect his stance and that he devoted his whole life to Russia,” Yekaterina, a woman outside the court, said.

After the verdict, one of Girkin’s supporters yelled “Ukraine has won!”

“We think he is a political prisoner… he’s a patriot of his country,” Girkin’s wife Miroslava Reginskaya said to reporters outside the court.

In a Telegram post, Girkin’s friend and former Russian intelligence colonel Vladimir Kvachkov said the verdict was “a gift” to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.”

Ivan Otrakovsky, an ex-officer and leader of the Army of Defenders of the Fatherland, a group of Russian nationalists and veterans, said the extremism charges against Girkin were “completely baseless.”

“Igor Strelkov is someone who understands the war from the inside and he has the right to express himself. The authorities, instead of paying attention to his opinion, are trying to silence him and other social and political figures who are patriots of the country and follow the course of the war closely,” Otrakovsky told The Moscow Times near the court building.

“This is not only about Strelkov, but also a warning to other patriots who will keep speaking up for the army.”

The independent SOTA news outlet reported that police arrested at least three supporters after the sentencing.

Girkin, who was widely known by his alias Igor Strelkov, was a key leader of pro-Russian separatist groups in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in 2014, confessing that he was “the one who started” the conflict with Kyiv.

The hardline nationalist has strongly criticized Russia’s military leaders during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as they faced many failures and mistakes, calling their strategy ineffective and “stupid.”

Girkin was arrested in July 2023 after he posted several messages on social media criticizing President Vladimir Putin.

“The country will collapse if this timid mediocrity stays in power for another six years,” Girkin wrote on his Telegram blog shortly before his arrest.

Officials, who spoke to The Moscow Times anonymously, said that the Kremlin “got really pissed off” with Girkin.

The nationalist’s supporters said his case was based on politics.”

Alexei Navalny, the jailed opposition leader and Putin critic, has also called for Girkin to be recognized as a political prisoner despite their differences.

In August, while in custody awaiting trial, Girkin declared his intention to run for the Russian presidency in the March 2024 election, though his supporters concede he has no hope of getting on the ballot.

“I think I am more skilled in military matters than the current president and definitely more skilled than the defense minister,” Girkin said in a social media post announcing his presidential bid, adding that Putin “had been fooled” by the West.

Girkin also faces a jail sentence overseas.

In November 2022, a Dutch court convicted Girkin in absentia of life imprisonment for his role in the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 people on board.