At the request of the investigation, a pediatrician from Moscow, Nadezhda Buyanova, had their preventive measure tightened from a ban on certain actions to detention. The woman was sent to pre-trial detention for two months, until June 25. Her lawyer Oscar Cherdzhiev reported this in his stories.
The investigation filed a request to tighten the measure. The security forces explained the decision by saying that Buyanova, without notifying the investigative authorities, left her place of residence and went to another region, creating conditions that precluded maintaining contact with the investigator to call her for procedural actions. The woman also avoided appearing before the investigative body since April 22 to familiarize herself with the case materials.
Buyanova was previously prohibited from certain actions. She was prohibited from using means of communication, including mail, telegraph and the Internet, as well as communicating with witnesses in the case and other participants in criminal proceedings, with the exception of investigators, defense lawyers and the prosecutor.
The case against the doctor became known on February 2, when they came to search her. Already on the night of February 3, Buyanova was charged. According to investigators, the woman mocked a Russian soldier who died in the war in a conversation with his wife and children. She claims that she did not say such words, and notes that there is no evidence of this. Initially, the woman was charged with the milder part of the article on the dissemination of military “fakes” (Part 1 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). On April 19, in the final version, the charges were tightened by adding the motive of national hatred (clause “d”, part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code).
On February 1, Buyanova was fired from the clinic one day. The woman also told ASTRA that on the same day, even before the initiation of a criminal case, security forces confiscated her mobile phone. Directly on the day of the search, the chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, demanded that a criminal case be opened against the doctor.
- Since February 24, 2022—the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine—residents of Russian cities have been holding anti-war protests every day and talking about the tragedy online. Anti-war speeches and statements become grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 900 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our infographic .
- Article 207.3 (Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation) was included in the Criminal Code in March 2022 - in this way the authorities responded to anti-war speeches and statements, as well as the dissemination of information about the war that does not come from official Russian sources. The maximum penalty under this article is 15 years in prison.