The 2nd Western District Military Court imposed a fine of 600,000 rubles on Petrozavodsk art teacher Irina Bystrova because of anti-war posts on VKontakte. This was reported by the telegram channel From Karelia with love.
The 57-year-old teacher was sentenced at the end of December 2022. She was found guilty of calling for terrorism and spreading «fakes» about the army (part 2 of article 205.2, paragraph «e» of part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code).
Wishing Putin to burn in hell. A court in Karelia sent an artist for a forced examination in the case of «fakes»
According to Sever.Realii, an art school teacher is being persecuted because of two posts posted after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The first featured a photograph of President Vladimir Putin in flames with the caption «Burn in hell!» Bystrova recounted the second post as follows: “There is no need to fight, turn your weapons against the current militaristic thieves’ regime of Putin’s gang.”
Now the posts are not available, since Bystrova’s page on VKontakte has been blocked.
In March, the Petrozavodsk apartment of an art teacher and her 83-year-old mother who had suffered a stroke was searched. In the evening, Bystrov was released, but a few hours later they were again taken away from home and left for the night before the trial in the temporary detention center. The judge, as a measure of restraint, forbade her to leave the house and use means of communication. In June, the court sent Bystrov for a compulsory psychiatric examination, despite her sick mother.