A “Trotskyist student” was expelled from St. Petersburg State University after a fine for an action with a note “Science is dead”

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A “Trotskyist student” was expelled from St. Petersburg State University after a fine for an action with a note “Science is dead,” reports “Paper.”

St. Petersburg State University issued an order to expel Artem Pronko from the second year of his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Political Science due to a violation of the university’s charter, which requires “complying with the legislation of the Russian Federation.” At the same time, the court decision on Pronko’s offense has not yet entered into force, of which the university administration was notified.

Pronko was fined because of the action with the note “Science is Dead” on March 24. Then a mannequin in the image of the ancient Roman goddess Minerva with a knot around her neck was hung on the monument to the Minister of Public Education, Count Sergei Uvarov. She has a sword in one hand and a note saying “Science is Dead” in the other. In the anonymous telegram channel where the action was reported , on behalf of the students of St. Petersburg State University, they criticized the leadership of the university and accused it of murdering science.

Pronko was fined 20 thousand rubles, although the lawyer proved that the student was at the university during the protest. Earlier, LETI student Stepan Timofeev was given administrative arrest for the same action. The community activists who took responsibility for the action told Bumaga that they were not familiar with either Pronko or Timofeev. Pronko himself wrote : “I am a political science student at St. Petersburg State University, I was a member of the Student Council of St. Petersburg State University, and in my activities I used only legal means established by the legislation of the Russian Federation and the charter of St. Petersburg State University.” The pro-government publication RIA Novosti reported that Artem Pronko is a member of the Trotskyist “Workers’ Power” cell. The student stated that he did not know about the existence of “Workers’ Power”.

The security forces are trying to promote the case of “Trotskyist students” in St. Petersburg within two months. On May 15, St. Petersburg State University student Harry Azaryan was sent to a pre-trial detention center. According to investigators, Azaryan spoke about the revolution at the congresses of the Workers' Power organization. On May 28, two left-wing activists, Ivan and Marya, were searched as part of the case of “Trotskyist students.” They are involved in the case in the status of witnesses; they are not charged with supervising other students, as RIA Novosti previously reported .