(Moscow) “She hates Russia”: in a Moscow court, pediatrician Nadezhda Buïanova was tried on Thursday, like many other people before her, for having criticized the assault on Ukraine. This 68-year-old woman faces up to ten years in prison.
This trial is indicative of the repression that has been in full swing in Russia for more than two years and which has sent thousands of Russians to court for critical words or messages on social networks.
Nadezhda Buyanova, born in the Ukrainian city of Lviv and living in Russia for almost 30 years, is accused of having criticized the offensive against Ukraine during a conversation with the mother of one of her patients.
During the hearing on Thursday, the court listened to the main prosecution witness: Anastassia Akinchina, 34, very dressed, accused the pediatrician of having “spoken to her in a mocking tone”.
“She told me that my [ex] husband [disparu en Ukraine] was a legitimate target for Ukraine, that Russia was an aggressor country and was attacking Ukrainian civilians,” Mme Akinchina crying.
” Everything is explained. This is why she hates Russia and Russian fighters. She’s from Lviv! » she proclaimed, accusing her son’s pediatrician.
PHOTO NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Anastasia Akinchina
After being denounced in January, Mme Buyanova was fired from her hospital, then arrested on February 2 and charged with “spreading false information” about the Russian army motivated by “ethnic hatred.”
The debates also revolve around the question of whether M’s sonme Akinchina, aged seven, was present during their fateful conversation.
If the defense proves that he was not present, the charge should in principle be dropped. Because Russian justice only provides for punishments in the event of spreading false information about the army “in public”.
” I am innocent. This is a misunderstanding. I am just a simple doctor, all of this is very hard for me,” the pediatrician pleaded with journalists before the start of the hearing.
“More and more political prisoners”
Around twenty people came to support Nadejda Bouïanova in court on Thursday. Among them, doctors and the parents of Russian opponent Ilia Yashin, who is serving an eight and a half year prison sentence for denouncing Russian crimes in Ukraine.
“There are more and more political prisoners every day. We should support each other,” Tatiana Iachina, the opponent’s mother, told AFP.
For her, Nadezhda Buïanova is a doctor who “fulfilled her professional duty honestly, continued to treat children, even though she was already retired”.
“I have the impression that she is considered guilty only because she was born in Lviv,” adds Mme Yachina. Lviv is a city in western Ukraine where hostile feelings towards Russia are particularly strong.
The pediatrician’s colleagues launched an online petition to support her which has so far collected more than 6,000 signatories.
“I came from Saint Petersburg (northwest of Russia) to support Nadezhda Buïanova. His story shocked me,” Vera Rebrova, 49, an ambulance doctor, told AFP.
“It is our duty to support someone in such a difficult situation. We, the medical community, have signed an open letter to defend Nadezhda,” says Olga Zalesskaïa, a 42-year-old hygienist.
According to the NGO Memorial, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and considered a “foreign agent” by the Russian government, 730 political prisoners are behind bars in Russia.
Nearly 1,000 people have been arrested since the start of the year for public protest actions, most of them to denounce the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
The next hearing in Nadezhda Buyanova’s trial is scheduled for June 13. The pediatrician remains in pre-trial detention while waiting.