A Moscow court upheld a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a pediatrician convicted of spreading “false information” about the military, Russian media reported Monday.
Nadezhda Buyanova, 69, was sentenced to prison in November after the wife of a soldier killed in Ukraine accused her of criticizing the war during a medical appointment. According to the woman, Buyanova called her late husband a “legitimate target for Ukraine” and said Russia was “guilty.”
Buyanova had appealed the sentence, but the Moscow City Court ruled to maintain both her prison term and a ban on practicing medicine or posting anything online, according to the Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram news channel.
The appeal hearing was held behind closed doors.
Around 20 people came to the Moscow City Court on Monday to show their support for Buyanova, the exiled news outlet Mediazona reported. Buyanova participated in the appeal hearing via video link from the pretrial detention center where she is being held, it added.
Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities have fined and jailed scores of people for spreading “fakes” about the army, effectively outlawing any opposition to the war.
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