Russian authorities seek a 6-year prison term for pediatrician accused of criticizing war in Ukraine

Russian authorities are seeking a six-year prison term for a pediatrician accused of criticizing the war in Ukraine in front of one of her patients and his mother, Russian independent news site Mediazona reported on Friday.

The case against Dr. Nadezhda Buyanova, 68, is one of hundreds launched against Russians after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on opposition activists, independent journalists and ordinary people.

Buyanova was arrested in February and initially released on condition of complying with certain restrictions, but two months later authorities placed her in pre-trial detention, arguing that she violated some of the restrictions. The mother of one of her patients reported her to the authorities, alleging that the pediatrician told her son that his father, a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine, was a legitimate target for Kyiv's troops, and blamed Russia for the war.

The pediatrician was charged with spreading false information about the army, a criminal offense under a law that was adopted shortly after the invasion and widely used to target critics and protesters. She has rejected the charges and insisted that she never said those things.

Buyanova's defense argued that the prosecution failed to present evidence that the purported conversation took place and alleged that the woman who reported the doctor, who was born in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, fabricated the story out of animosity towards Ukrainians, according to Mediazona.

In her closing statement to the court, Buyanova said that it was “painful” to read the accusations in the indictment, and broke down in tears.

According to OVD-Info, one of Russia’s leading rights groups that tracks political arrests, more than 1,000 people have been implicated in criminal cases on charges related to speaking or acting out against the war in Ukraine.