MOSCOW, April 22 (Reuters) - A military court in Moscow

on Monday sentenced Meta Platforms ( META ) spokesperson Andy

Stone to six years in prison for "publicly defending terrorism",

a verdict handed down in absentia, RIA news agency reported.

Meta itself is designated an extremist organisation in

Russia and its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms

have been banned in the country since 2022 when Russia invaded

Ukraine.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stone, Meta's communications director, could not immediately be

reached.

Interfax cited the defendant's lawyer, Valentina

Filippenkova, as saying that the sentence would be appealed.

"I asked for an acquittal," she was quoted as saying.

Russia's interior ministry opened a criminal investigation

into Stone late last year, without disclosing specific charges.

RIA cited state investigators as saying Stone had published

online comments that defended "aggressive, hostile and violent

actions" towards Russian soldiers involved in what Moscow calls

its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Reuters

Editing by Ros Russell)