Russian court sentences pediatrician to prison in exile after being criticized by patient’s mother
A Russian court today sentenced a Moscow pediatrician to five-and-a-half years in a penal colony after a patient’s mother publicly criticized her for comments she made about Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Prosecutors last week sentenced Nadezhda Buyanova to six years in prison for spreading “falsifications” about the Russian military after her mother recorded a video criticizing the 68-year-old doctor over her comments. However, Buyanova denies it.
More than 1,000 people have been criminally prosecuted in Russia for speaking out against the war, and more than 20,000 people have been detained for protesting, according to rights project OVD-Info.
Buyanova’s case is part of a growing trend in Russia of people accusing others of alleged political crimes.
OVD-Info has recorded 21 such criminal prosecutions since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.
The rights group’s lawyer Eva Levenberg said a further 175 people face lower-level administrative proceedings for “discrediting” the Russian military as a result of providing information to it, and 79 of them have been fined. said.
Russia’s Ministry of Justice has been asked to comment on the use of OVD-Info data and indictments to support prosecutions involving Buyanova.
Her supporters packed the courtroom to hear the verdict, some wearing T-shirts with her face printed on them.
“I can’t understand it,” Buyanova, who has cropped gray hair, told reporters before the verdict.
When Judge Olga Fedina pronounced her guilty, the courtroom erupted in protests.
According to Russian media, several people shouted “shameful!”
“The sentence is horrifying and cruel,” Buyanova’s lawyer Oscar Cherzyev said, news agency Mediazona reported.
The case was prompted by a complaint filed by Anastasia Akinshina, who brought her 7-year-old son to Buyanova’s clinic.
The boy’s father, whom Akinshina divorced, had been killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
Akinshina recorded a video in which she said Buyanova called the child’s father “a legitimate target of Ukraine.”
The video was posted by Mash, a Telegram channel with more than 3 million subscribers close to Russia’s security services.
Buyanova denied making the statements but was taken into pretrial detention in April.
A group of Russian doctors wrote an open letter defending Buyanova, calling the accusations “shameful”. A petition calling for her release has garnered more than 6,000 signatures.
