MOSCOW, March 21 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia had upheld the 2-year prison sentence given to Avaid Mosab, a Palestinian student in the Russian town of Belgorod, for publicly approving an act of terror against the Paris-based Charlie Hebdo magazine, the court’s press service told RAPSI on Tuesday.

After examining the appeal filed by the student’s defense, the Court refused to mitigate the sentence by the Moscow District Military Court passed in December of 2016.

As it has been established by the first-instance court, in January of 2015 Mosab placed photographs of the terrorists in the Charlie Hebdo massacre on his page with a social network with a statement of approval of their actions. Since the Paris incident had been recognized as an act of terror, the court found the student guilty of publicly approving terrorism, an offence punishable under the Russian Criminal code. Mosab had pleaded guilty.

On January 7, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked as two gunmen forced their way into the office of the magazine in Paris and opened fire, killing 12 and injuring 11.

Most of the victims worked at the magazine, including editors and nationally famous cartoonists Stéphane Charbonnier (“Charb”), Jean Cabut (“Cabu”) and Georges Wolinski.