The Petrozavodsk City Court received a case regarding military "fakes" against the head of a private art school, Irina Bystrova*, reported the human rights project "OVD-Info"**.
The woman is accused of spreading "fakes" about the Russian army "motivated by political hatred". According to the investigation, Bystrova made three posts on her "VKontakte" page in 2023 and 2024: about the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP and about the missile strike on the center of Kramatorsk.
The case against the teacher was initiated at the end of last year. On December 11, the woman was detained, and the next day she was charged. After that, the court placed the artist under house arrest.
Irina Bystrova lives in an apartment with her elderly mother, who has not left the house for the past few years. The artist fully cares for her mother under house arrest conditions, and a social worker brings them food and medicine.
This is Bystrova's second criminal case related to public expression of opinion. On December 27, 2022, the artist was fined 600 thousand rubles under the same article, as well as under the article on "justification of terrorism". The fine was set with a five-year installment plan. Since September 2022, the artist has been on the Rosfinmonitoring list of "terrorists and extremists".
On March 11, 2024, Bystrova was fined 30 thousand rubles in an administrative case on "discrediting" the Russian army. The reason was four posts made in 2023 on "VKontakte".
* Included in the list of "terrorists and extremists".
** Recognized in Russia as a "foreign agent".