Russian teachers sentenced for verse "Ukrainian patriots"

The Kromsky District Court in the Oryol Region sentenced a German teacher, Alexander Byvshev, who published an extremist poem “Ukrainian Patriots” on the Internet, to 300 hours of correctional labor.

In addition, the 42-year-old teacher for two years will not be able to engage in teaching activities. Byvshev’s lawyer, Vladimir Suchkov, announced his intention to appeal the verdict to the regional court.

Earlier, the court examined the expressions used by Byvshev in his poems, for example, the words “Moskal”. The court found the conclusion of the teacher from Oryol University sufficient, which the Investigative Committee drew for the examination. She confirmed the opinion of the prosecution that Byvshev's poems incite hatred and enmity towards Russians.

Represented by Byvshev’s lawyer, the Kiev Institute of Linguistics, which says that the word “Moskal” and its derivatives in Byvshev’s poems designate the Russian military, and not the offensive nickname of Russians in general, was not attached to the court.

In the poems "Ukrainian Patriots" and "Ukrainian rebels", published on March 1, Byvshev urges the interventionists to resist. After a complaint against a teacher was written to the Korya newspaper Zarya, the editorial staff appealed to the prosecutor’s office, which opened a case of inciting hatred or enmity to Russians under Article 282, part 1, of the Criminal Code of Russia.