Russian Pediatrician Sentenced for Military Criticism

Nadezhda Buyanova, a 68-year-old pediatrician from Moscow, has been sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian military during a patient consultation. The charges arose after a patient's mother, Anastasia Akinshina, claimed Buyanova called her deceased soldier ex-husband a 'legitimate target' of Ukraine. There is no audio evidence of the alleged remarks, and Buyanova has denied making them, asserting her innocence in court. Her case is part of a broader crackdown in Russia, where over 1,000 individuals have been criminally prosecuted for opposing the war in Ukraine. The case has drawn significant attention due to its implications for free speech and the intensifying repression in Russia under wartime laws employed to silence dissent. Supporters of Buyanova, including medical professionals, have criticized the harshness of the sentence, arguing it is part of a trend of denunciations leading to political prosecutions.