In the game of word against word, Nadezhda Buïanova lost. This 68-year-old pediatrician was sentenced in Russia to five and a half years in prison for comments she allegedly made about the war in Ukraine during a consultation last January. It was the mother of one of her young patients, Anastassia Akinchina, who publicly denounced her in a video published last January.
Nadezhda Buyanova reportedly said that the accuser’s husband, a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine, was a “legitimate target” and that Russia was “an aggressor country and was attacking Ukrainian civilians.” The court found her guilty of spreading “false information”.
The conviction of the doctor born in Lviv, Ukraine, but long-time resident of Russia, highlights the intensification of repression in Russia, while the offensive continues on the other side of the border.
During her trial, Nadezhda Buïanova tearfully proclaimed her innocence, claiming that she had not mentioned the war during the consultation. She would have been targeted because of her Ukrainian origins, says her defense which highlights the absence of proof. Prosecutors relied solely on testimony from the mother and her seven-year-old child to support their case.
The Russian human rights organization Memorial has included Nadezhda Buyanova on its list of political prisoners, which includes 800 names. A group of Russian doctors also defended the pediatrician in an open letter.
The authorities have been working for several months to suppress any anti-war sentiment and the courts condemn any act in favor of the opposing camp. A man who donated some 50 euros to a pro-Ukrainian charity was sentenced to 12 years in prison last Friday, just like a Russian-American woman last August.
