Riot police confront participants in the April 2020 rally protesting coronavirus measures in Vladikavkaz.
The Lenin district court on July 29 found Artur Dzhavadyan guilty of attacking a police officer and sentenced him to 6 1/2 years in prison.
Four other defendants, Arsen Brikhov, Khetag Samov, Georgy Khugayev, and Atsamaz Tebloyev, were convicted of taking part in mass disorder and sentenced to prison terms of between four years, nine months, and 5 1/2 years in prison.
Two days earlier, five other men who took part in the massive rally against coronavirus restrictions in North Ossetia were handed prison sentences of between five years and 5 1/2 years.
On April 20 last year, police in North Ossetia detained dozens of protesters when about 2,000 people gathered in the central square of the regional capital, Vladikavkaz, demanding the resignation of regional leader Vyacheslav Bitarov.
The rally lasted for several hours until police violently dispersed it. Thirty-seven participants were charged with taking part in mass disorder, assaulting law enforcement, or disobedience to police.
Court decisions are still expected to come on others involved in the protests.
Comment: RT provides more details of Sun's crimes which, were they to have occurred in any Western country, would almost certainly invite a harsh response from the state; unless of course the billionaire was 'connected' to people in government: It's possible - even likely - that the Chinese government is deliberately down playing the African swine fever outbreak. But, as we can see from the RT article, Sun's has been jailed for illegal mining, illegal occupation of land, aggressively blocking state developers, and illegal financial activity; these crimes amount to much more than a simple 'dissident' or 'human rights activist' who 'published criticisms of the state', which was what The Guardian clearly wanted us to believe.
See also: China refuses diplomatic access to trial of Australian national citing national security concerns