A Moscow court this Thursday sentenced a 59-year-old nurse, Olga Menshij, to eight years in prison for her critical position towards the Russian Government. The Dorogomilovo District Court found the woman guilty of posting on her social network vKontakte two “false” comments, according to the authorities, against the Russian army regarding two Ukrainian tragedies: the Bucha massacre and a bombing in Vinnitsa in 2022. Menshij denies having written the messages for which she has been tried and claims to be a victim of a persecution of his colleagues for his criticism of the war at work and his visits to the grave of the opponent Alexei Navalny.
“When the stump of a young man passes in front of you, do you know what it feels like? Compassion,” Menshij said in her last word before the judges, where she emphasized that she is not the only Russian nurse who suffers from the invasion of Ukraine. “Damn! In our hospital there are people whose husbands have been sent to the front; people who bring their crippled brothers and who are against the war. Can you imagine what is said in the hospital cafeteria and in its wards?
This health worker was arrested last April in an imposing operation by Russian security forces. The Federal Security Service broke down the door of her house and handcuffed her to a chair before taking her into custody. According to the indictment, the nurse published two comments in which she “created the appearance that the Russian Armed Forces and government bodies were violating international law with illegal actions.”
Menshij will turn 60 in a cell next November. An anesthetist at the Pirogov hospital, he reports that he has been the victim of criminal proceedings for his participation in anti-war demonstrations and for his differences with other employees of the center where he worked. Menshij recalled during his speaking turn that a doctor “who killed and mutilated patients” was temporarily removed for his complaints.
The nurse had been briefly arrested at least twice before the opening of this criminal case. The first time on February 25, 2022, the day after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, for participating in a protest not authorized by the Government. The second, on September 3 of the same year, during the funeral for former president Mikhail Gorbachev, according to the organization against Russian repression OVD-Info.
According to Menshij, his website vKontakte —a social network that belongs to the Kremlin circle—was manipulated to fabricate evidence against him. He only had 14 family members subscribed to his profile. However, one of the two witnesses called to trial has been a 27-year-old Kazakh citizen residing in Russia since 2015, Alijan Kurmangaliev. According to the independent newspaper Midzonethis stranger found Menshij’s alleged comments “by accident” and allegedly took screenshots “because they undermined the foundations of the constitutional system and he wanted to observe the development of events.”
Menshij’s lawyer asked to know why Kurmangaliev’s profile had a Russian name, Alexei Kurtsev, but the court dismissed the question.
Another witness was the head of the hospital nurses, Maria Vershinina. “He called us vatniki—quilted jacketin Russian, an insult against ultranationalists, fascists, Putinists. After 2020 – the year of the poisoning that almost cost Navalni his life – she became fanatical, aggressive and often criticized the hospital management. Criticizing is wrong,” Vershinina said.
The human rights organization Memorial has declaredMenshij “political prisoner” of the Russian regime. The NGO, banned by the Kremlin, has denounced that his detention “violates his rights to freedom of expression and a fair trial.” This foundation, recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize, denounces that the law on the discrediting of the Russian army, promulgated by Putin after his initial offensive failed, “is unconstitutional.”