The Moscow City Court upheld the sentence of pediatrician Nadezhda Buyanova — 5.5 years in the case of spreading military 'fakes', reported a correspondent of 'Mediazona'* from the courtroom.
Nadezhda Buyanova herself participated in the session via video link from the pre-trial detention center. At the request of prosecutor Kuzmenko, the appeal against the sentence was considered in a closed session due to 'security threats to the participants in the process'.
The defense opposed such a decision, as the case against Nadezhda Buyanova was considered in an open session, and all the details of the case were publicly announced.
'I am a pediatrician, how can I cause any harm, especially being behind bars, how can I threaten,' protested Buyanova against the closure.
Lawyers Oscar Cherdzhiev and Leonid Solovyov said that the woman felt 'unwell' and could not hold back tears while speaking in court. After the announcement, Buyanova was immediately muted, and she did not hear the words of the support group that, by court decision, she was reinstated at work.
In November last year, Moscow pediatrician Nadezhda Buyanova was sentenced to five and a half years in the case of military 'fakes', prompted by a statement from Anastasia Akinshina — the widow of a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine, who came with a seven-year-old child to her appointment. Akinshina claimed that when the child 'started to act up', Buyanova asked what it was related to. The mother said that the son missed his father. The doctor allegedly replied that the man was a 'legitimate target for Ukraine, and in general, Russia is to blame itself'. Buyanova insists that Akinshina slandered her. Moreover, the boy's mother changed her testimony several times.
Immediately after the session, the defense stated that in any case, they would file a cassation appeal to point out violations of criminal procedural law, which, according to the defenders, were committed but ignored by the courts of first instance. 'The child was interrogated not under video recording. And we were not given the opportunity for the second time in the appellate court to directly ask him questions and verify what he says. Because we do not believe a single word written in the interrogation protocol conducted by FSB officers — the child could not even remember and say such things if he wanted to,' quotes SOTAvision* lawyer Oscar Cherdzhiev.
* Recognized as 'foreign agents' in Russia.
Photo: Alexandra Astakhova