MOSCOW: A Russian military court on Thursday jailed a mathematician and self-described anarchist for four years on charges of “justifying terrorism”, in a case denounced by independent rights groups.

Azat Miftakhov, 31, was detained last year as he left a penal colony where he had been serving a six-year sentence for “hooliganism” on charges of breaking a window at a local office of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

He was later charged with “justifying terrorism” over comments prosecutors said he made to other inmates while incarcerated.

Prosecutors say that in prison Miftakhov had told other convicts he would “avenge” a friend who died fighting for Ukraine.