The trial of the director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature has begun

On November 2, the Meshchansky District Court began a trial in the case of Natalya Sharina, director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature. Judge Elena Gudoshnikova presides.

Prosecutor Balandina read out the indictment, according to which Sharina, not later than October 28, 2015, acting deliberately, and also knowing that the library is public, placed in the public domain and organized the opportunity to get acquainted with Kaczynski's book "War in the Crowd" and other books - "Hunger in Ukraine 1946-47", "Voices of my life", "Memory", "Poetry time", booklet "Roman Shukhevych".

“The examination of 04/20/16 found signs of humiliation of Russians and the formation of nationalist views against Russians,” the state prosecutor noted, writes the Grani edition on Twitter.

Sharina is also charged with stealing other people's property: “I organized three transactions for a bar association for a total of 297 thousand rubles, discredited the institution and my position, at the request of lawyer Karpinsky, fictitiously placed Karpinsky’s acquaintances in my case, transferred them about 1.4 million rubles for salaries. Sharina transferred another 1.9 million rubles for insurance and pension contributions, ”said the prosecutor.

Sharina did not admit her guilt either under Article 160 or Article 282. Moreover, she noted that initially the indictment did not say that she herself allegedly arranged the books on the shelves, moreover, she does not understand what the crime is here. “The arrangement of books on the shelves is, of course, the function of the director. But this is not disclosed in the indictment,” said lawyer Sharina Pavlov.

Also, in the indictment, according to him, the intent is not proven and not indicated, the motives are not clear. “There is not a single fact in the case that Sharina had extremist intentions, anti-Russian sentiments. There is no crime event,” the lawyer said. As for the accusation under Article 160, according to Pavlov, it is “cynical”: “the lawyer was involved in the defense of the library when the first searches took place, the contract with the lawyer and the remuneration were agreed with the Department of Culture.” The same department introduced the rate of a legal adviser, the work was carried out and was not fictitious. “The case has long slipped from the right-wing rails to political ones, and we are very sorry that the court is being drawn into politics,” Pavlov said.

The next meeting will take place on November 23rd.