Dmitry Glukhovsky has been sentenced to 8 years in prison, but doesn't actually live in Russia.
Photograph of a Russian author, Dmitry Glukhovsky, sitting on a leather couch.

On August 7, Metro author Dmitry Glukhovsky was sentenced to eight years in prison. Glukhovsky was found guilty by a Moscow court for intentionally spreading "misinformation" about Russia's armed forces.

This sentencing comes about a year after Glukhovsky revealed that he was placed on a Russian federal watchlist after he was accused of discrediting the Russian army in a social media post. Glukhovsky was found guilty of "posting texts and videos on his social media channels that accused Russian servicemen of committing crimes in Ukraine." Prosecutors dismissed all claims made by Glukhovsky as being fake.

In April 2022, after having already left Russia, Glukhovsky said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine "unleashed by Putin is becoming more terrible and inhuman every day, and the pretexts under which it was started look more and more insignificant and false." Charges were then leveled against Glukhovsky in June 2022. In October 2022, Glokhovsky was labeled a "foreign agent" after continuing to be vocally critical of the Kremlin.

Shortly after they invaded Ukraine, Russia passed a bill that would allow the courts to send people to jail for up to 15 years for anybody found guilty of spreading "misinformation" or "fake news" about the aforementioned invasion.

Now, as Russia is gonna Russia, there is a little bit of a snag here when it comes to Glukhovsky's sentencing: He doesn't live in Russia. The court in Moscow tried him "in absentia," according to the Associated Press.​

Glukhovsky is a journalist and writer, who first rose to fame as the author of Metro 2033 and several sequels. Metro 2033 was adapted into a video game of the same name, with Glukhovsky helping on the script for the game sequel, Metro: Last Light, and "inspiring" Metro Exodus.

As it stands right now, unless Glukhovsky returns to Russia, he will not be serving out that sentence. His current whereabouts are unknown and I'm sure he plans on keeping it that way for a while.