Environmentalist jailed for Sochi action

A leading Russian activist who campaigned against environmental damage caused by preparations for the Winter Olympics in Sochi has been sentenced to three years in a penal colony.

Rights groups blasted the decision against Yevgeny Vitishko, a geologist and activist with Environmental Watch on the North Caucasus (EWNC), who has been a vehement critic of the damage to the environment from the construction of venues for the Sochi Games.

The Olympics is the biggest event in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union but it has been marred by concerns over massive building projects in pristine wooded and mountain areas.

Vitishko was convicted in 2012 of damaging a fence during a protest against the construction of what the group believes is a mansion for the region's governor in a public forest and received a suspended sentence.

But a judge in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar on Wednesday upheld a ruling that he had breached that sentence and ordered him to serve a three-year prison term.

Human Rights Watch condemned Vitishko's sentence as punishment for his criticism of the Olympics.

"The case against Vitishko has been politically motivated from the start," Yulia Gorbunova, a Russia researcher at HRW, said in a statement.

"When the authorities continued to harass him it became clear they were trying to silence and exact retribution against certain persistent critics of the preparations for the Olympics."

EWNC has "faced increased harassment by officials for exposing the destruction of areas of outstanding natural beauty to make room for the Olympic sites", Amnesty International said in a statement.

Vitishko had been under arrest for 15 days for allegedly swearing in public, meaning he was behind bars during the opening ceremony of the Games.

He was also unable to make a personal appearance at the appeal hearing, instead defending himself via a shaky video link.

His lawyer said Vitishko would most likely be taken to a penal colony immediately after his 15-day arrest runs out next Tuesday.