Doctor accused of criticizing Russia's war in Ukraine is convicted and given over 5 years in prison

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A doctor accused of criticizing the war in Ukraine in front of a patient was convicted Tuesday of spreading false information about the Russian military and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, part of an unrelenting Kremlin crackdown on dissent.

Dr. Nadezhda Buyanova, 68, was arrested in February after Anastasia Akinshina, the mother of one of her patients, reported the pediatrician to authorities. Akinshina alleged that Buyanova told her and her son that his father, a Russian soldier who apparently was killed in Ukraine, was a legitimate target for Kyiv’s troops and had blamed Moscow for the war.

A video of the outraged Akinshina complaining about Buyanova was widely publicized, and chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin personally demanded a criminal case be brought against the doctor.

Buyanova, who was born in western Ukraine, denied the accusation, insisting she never said what she was accused of saying. In a tearful closing statement to the court last week, she had urged it to acquit her.

Her defense argued the prosecution failed to present evidence that the purported conversation took place, including any recordings of it, and alleged that her accuser fabricated the story out of animosity toward Ukrainians, according to the independent news site Mediazona, which reported all of the hearings in the trial.

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

“A doctor, especially a pediatrician, is not capable of wishing harm to a child, his mother, or traumatizing the child’s psyche. Only a monster is capable of this -- and of the words that I allegedly said to them,” Mediazona quoted her as saying.

Buyanova's case drew national attention, with more than 6,500 people signing an online petition demanding her freedom and supporters regularly attending court hearings. As the judge read out the verdict, they shouted, “Disgrace!” before bailiffs escorted everyone from the courtroom.

Her lawyer, Oscar Cherdzhyev, told reporters afterward that the verdict was “unexpectedly harsh” and “monstrously cruel.”

“We didn't expect this,” he said.

“Spreading false information” about the army has been a criminal offense since March 2022, when Russia adopted a series of laws prohibiting any public expression about the invasion that deviated from the official narrative. Authorities started actively using them against critics and protesters.

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.