Russia sentences Jewish writer Masha Gessen to prison in absentia for comments on Ukraine war

(JTA) - A Russian court has sentenced the decorated Russian-Jewish writer Masha Gessen to eight years in prison in absentia over comments made about the country's conduct in the Ukraine war in 2022.

The sentence makes Gessen at least the fifth prominent Jewish writer to be targeted by Russia for dissenting comments since the outbreak of war.

Gessen, a New York Times columnist and former New Yorker writer who fled the Soviet Union as a teenager and has written and commented extensively on Judaism, has separately faced blowback from Jewish groups for writing on Israel.

Gessen was not present for...