Sorry, But I've been around the block enough times here to know that your actual goal is to label this action as "punishment."
That's a position with enormous rhetorical value to you. You can use that framing to turn a conversation about a man's actions over time into a philosophical question.
That way you can avoid any inconvenient particular facts.
What could it be other than punishment? RMS committed no crime. What he did was offend certain people by having the audacity to speak up on behalf of his dead friend. That was his 'act.' Inconvenient enough?
That's a position with enormous rhetorical value to you. You can use that framing to turn a conversation about a man's actions over time into a philosophical question.
That way you can avoid any inconvenient particular facts.