MOSCOW, July 21 (RAPSI) – The Balakhinsky City Court in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region has sentenced a local resident to 300 hours of compulsory community service for disseminating false allegations that coronavirus vaccination was illegally carried out in the country.

The man has been found guilty of publicly disseminating as true knowingly false information on circumstances threatening lives and safety of citizens, as well as that concerning the measures undertaken to ensure safety of the population and territories, and methods and techniques employed for protection from the said circumstances, according to a statement on the official website of Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

The false statements in issue were published by the man on internet in April and May 2020; in these messages he called natives of the Near Abroad countries not to turn to Russian medical establishments for help when infected with the coronavirus. These allegations caused panic among those, who believed the false information, the statement reads.