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During the closing arguments at the Vuktyl City Court in the Komi Republic, the prosecutor requested a two-year sentence in an open prison colony for local resident Radmila Ryabtseva in a case concerning repeated “discreditation of the army” (part 1, article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by her OVD-Info lawyer, Vladislav Kosnyrev.
The next hearing will take place on 5 September.
The case against Ryabtseva was opened last year. While under investigation, she was banned from certain activities, including using communication devices and the internet.
The prosecution was prompted by a comment in the “Pro Gorod Vuktyl | News” group on VKontakte, published in response to a user named Aleksandr, who had fought in Ukraine.
“You kill children and civilians in a neighbouring country and consider yourselves saviours, but you’re just ordinary cleaners. And you’ll have to live with this for the rest of your lives. And it doesn’t matter whether you kill with weapons or with words from your sofa,” the comment said.
According to investigators, Ryabtseva was the author of this comment.
In July 2023, the woman was fined 30,000 roubles (about US$330) in an administrative case for “discrediting the army” (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Offences Code) because of comments on VKontakte in which she spoke out against the war in Ukraine.
Earlier still, in September 2022, a court ordered her to pay 10,000 roubles (about US$110) in compensation for moral damages to local Communist Party (KPRF) deputy Idris Taibov. He had filed a lawsuit against Ryabtseva for defamation, after she criticised on VKontakte his initiative to replace the first letter on the city’s sign with a Latin V.
Ryabtseva is raising an eight-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son, and also has a 21-year-old daughter.