Irina Tsybaneva, 60, left a note on the grave of Putin’s parents saying they had raised a “monster and a killer.”
A 60-year-old Russian pensioner has been given a two-year suspended sentence after she was found guilty of desecrating the grave of President Vladimir Putin’s parents when she left a note at the gravesite saying they had ” gave birth to a monster and a murderer”. “.
The court on Thursday found Irina Tsybaneva from St. Petersburg guilty of desecrating the Putins’ tomb out of political hatred.
The pensioner said she was motivated by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Prosecutors had sought a three-year suspended sentence for Tsybaneva, who was accused in October of desecrating the Putin family’s St Petersburg property, writing in a note describing Putin’s late mother and father as “the parents of this maniac,” reported independent news sites.
“Death to Putin, you raised a monster and a murderer,” the note read, urging the deceased parents to “take him with them, he causes so much pain and anger,” according to Novaya Gazeta Europe.
“The whole world is praying that he dies,” the note said.
Tsybaneva’s lawyer said she pleaded not guilty because she did not physically desecrate the grave or seek publicity for her actions.
The pensioner, who was initially under house arrest and not allowed to use the Internet, as well as was banned from visiting the Serafimovskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg, has no plans to appeal the verdict.
Tsybaneva told the court she wrote the note after seeing the news about the war in Ukraine, news outlets reported.
The woman was found guilty of desecrating a gravesite out of political hatred. Tsybaneva is also sentenced to a two-year probationary period.https://t.co/pNp7nrGTVE
— Novaya Gazeta Europe (@novayagazeta_en) May 11, 2023
“After watching the news, I was overcome with fear, I felt very uncomfortable,” Tsybaneva told the court, according to Novaya Gazeta.
“The fear was so great that I couldn’t handle it, and that’s probably my fault.” I hardly remember writing it [the note]I have no recollection of the text itself. I realize that I gave in to my feelings and committed an irrational act. I’m sorry my actions may offend or affect anyone,” she said.
Tsybaneva also said she was sure her note wouldn’t stand out as it was “rolled up in a small tube and didn’t draw attention,” the news organization added.
Also on Thursday, a Russian military court sentenced Nikita Tushkanov, a history teacher from Komi in northeastern Russia, to five and a half years in prison for commenting on last year’s explosion on the Kerch Bridge, which connects Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula to mainland Russia.
Tushkanov was found guilty of justifying “terrorism” and “discrediting” the Russian army for publishing a social media post in October calling the bridge blast a “birthday present” for Putin.
The Kremlin has launched a wide-ranging crackdown on criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Critics were fined, imprisoned, fired, blacklisted and branded by authorities as “foreign agents” in Russia.