A Russian court today sentenced a Moscow pediatrician to five and a half years in prison, after the mother of one of her patients publicly denounced her for her comments about Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Prosecutors last week requested a six-year prison sentence for Nadezhda Buyanova for spreading “falsehoods” about the Russian military after the mother recorded a video in which she denounced the 68-year-old doctor for his comments, which Buyanova denied having held.

More than 1,000 people have been criminally prosecuted in Russia for speaking out against the war, according to the rights project OVD-Info, and more than 20,000 have been arrested for protesting.

Buyanova’s case is part of a trend in which more people in Russia are reporting others for alleged political crimes.

OVD-Info has identified 21 criminal prosecutions of this type since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.

Eva Levenberg, a lawyer for the rights group, said another 175 people had faced lower-level administrative charges for “discrediting” the Russian military following denunciations about them, and that 79 d ‘of them had been fined.

The Russian Justice Ministry was asked to comment on OVD-Info data and the use of denunciations to support prosecutions, including that of Buyanova.

His supporters, some wearing T-shirts with his face printed on them, filled the courtroom to hear the sentence.

“I can’t understand,” Bouyanova, her gray hair cut short, told reporters before the verdict.

When Judge Olga Fedina found her guilty, the courtroom erupted in protest.

Many shouted “Shame!” », According to Russian media.

“The sentence is monstrously cruel,” said Bouyanova’s lawyer, Oscar Cherdzhiev, quoted by the Mediazona media.

The case was prompted by the complaint of Anastasia Akinshina, who took her seven-year-old son to see Bouyanova at her clinic.

The boy’s father, from whom Akinshina was divorced, had been killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine.

Akinshina recorded a video in which she claims that Buyanova called the father of her child a “legitimate target of Ukraine.”

The video was posted by Mash, a Telegram channel with more than three million subscribers and close to Russian security services.

Buyanova, who denied making the statement, was remanded in custody in April.

A group of Russian doctors wrote an open letter in defense of Bouyanova, calling the denunciation a “disgrace.” A petition calling for his release has collected more than 6,000 signatures.