A 59-year-old nurse was sentenced Thursday in Russia to spend eight years in a penal colony for an attack in Ukraine on social networks.
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The Russian authorities banned any criticism of the military operation, and punished thousands of people with imprisonment or fines for defaming its reputation.
Moscow's Dorogomilovsky Court convicted Olga Menchikh of spreading “lies” about the Russian army, under a law passed shortly after the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine and used to silence dissent.
This court ruled that this nurse posted messages “motivated by political hatred.”
Olga Menshikh denounced the deadly Russian strike carried out in 2022 on the Ukrainian town of Vinnytsia and the alleged massacre of civilians in the Bucha suburb of Kiev.
She pleaded not guilty and told the court that she felt sorry for the wounded Russian soldiers who arrived at the Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Center in the Russian capital, where she worked as an anesthetist nurse.
“When a young man passes, do you know what a woman feels? Compassion, not the hatred I am accused of,” she told the court, according to the independent website Mediazona. “I was very sad for them.”
She addressed the prosecutor in these terms: “You want to convict me of murder, but I fought for your health. I have treated many prosecutors and judges from all over Moscow.
In April, Olga Menshikh was arrested, placed under house arrest, and placed in detention in September.
Also Thursday, a court in the city of Penza, more than 600 kilometers southeast of the Russian capital, sentenced 40-year-old Maxim Zotov to 15 years in a strict penal colony for treason and “attempted attempt.” To cooperate with a foreign state in a secret manner,” regional prosecutors announced in a telegram.
They added that this man “tried in July 2022 to contact representatives of a foreign country with the aim of cooperating against Russia’s security interests.” Then, from October to January, he “maintained confidential electronic correspondence” with people who acted on behalf of a foreign state, according to the prosecutor’s press release.
They added that Maxim Zotov also conveyed information to Ukrainian services regarding two Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
