The FSB decided to check for extremism a book of poems about the Second World War by the poet Byvshev

In the Oryol region, the FSB decided to check for extremism a book of poems about the Second World War, “Bloody Memory” by the poet Alexander Byvshev. Byvshev himself informed OVD-Info about this.

He said that the day before he was summoned to the Kromskaya Investigative Committee. There, an investigator from Orel told the poet that the FSB had initiated a check of the book “Bloody Memory” “for the presence of calls for extremist activity.”

An employee of the investigative committee clarified that they did not initiate a new criminal case against Byvshev. According to him, the materials of the FSB inspection will be added to the latest case brought against him under Part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremist activities via the Internet), the reason for which, in particular, was the poem “Dedicated to the expansion of NATO to the East.” Thus, the investigation will combine two episodes into one proceeding.

Byvshev added that the book “Bloody Memory” was published in the USA in 2015. The poet emphasized that it contains “poems about the war crimes of the top leadership of the USSR during the Second World War,” so he does not rule out that they are “trying to subsume” him under the article about the rehabilitation and justification of Nazism.

• In total, six criminal cases have been opened against Byvshev, five of which were initiated because of his poems, including those in support of Ukraine. Another case under Article 294 of the Criminal Code (obstruction of justice and investigation)was brought against the poet due to communication with journalists and publication of details from the courtroom.
• The punishments handed down in 2015 and in April 2018 were combined : as a result, Byvshev was sentenced to 400 hours of compulsory labor due to the publication of poems in support of Ukraine on VKontakte. In addition, the man was banned from teaching for three years. The poet was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code (incitement of hatred).
• Because of his pro-Ukrainian poems, Byvshev has been under pressure since 2014. After publishing the poem “To Ukrainian Patriots” on VKontakte, the poet was added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists, and his bank accounts were blocked.