Pensioner Irina Tsybaneva, who left a note at the grave of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s parents, was sentenced to two years probation. This decision was made by the court of the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, informed common service of municipal courts.
At the beginning of October 2022, Tsybaneva came to the grave of Putin’s parents at the Serafimovsky cemetery and left a note there with insults to the president. The text contained in particular a request addressed to the late father and mother of the Head of State to “take back” their son.
The woman was found guilty under the article “Desecration of the bodies of the dead and their places of burial, committed on grounds of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or on grounds of hatred or enmity against any social group” (al. b. 2 article 244 of the Penal Code). According to this article, how Remarks The St. Petersburg edition ZAKS.ru is most often judged for vandalism, pogroms in cemeteries, destruction of monuments and desecration of war memorials.
During the trial, the prosecutor argued that Tsybaneva, with her note, protested against the domestic and foreign policy pursued by the President of the Russian Federation, including the use of Russian armed forces. However, given the mitigating circumstances (chronic illness and remorse), he asks the court:
condemn the pensioner to two years of suspended liberty accompanied by a probationary period of three years, prohibit her from changing permanent residence without the knowledge of the bailiffs, prohibit her from leaving Saint-Petersburg without the knowledge of the bailiffs, forbid him to visit the Serafimovskoye cemetery.
Tsybaneva admitted her guilt only partially, confirming that she really wrote a note of an insulting nature to Vladimir Putin and brought it to her parents’ grave. At the same time, the defendant did not agree that criminal responsibility was due for this act.
In her last word, the retiree explain that she is 61 years old, that she is widowed and that she is not interested in politics, that she does not belong to political parties and that she has never participated in protest rallies . She explained her decision to write a note to Putin’s late parents for fear of nuclear war, which came about while watching the news on television. According to Tsybaneva, she does not remember the text she wrote, because she “made a rash act”, “succumbed to an emotional impulse”.
“I was sure that no one would ever see the note. The note was folded inside with text, not attracting anyone’s attention. It was completely invisible because of the grass. It was far from the place The appearance of the burial place remained the same, did not change. I did not post provocative posters, I did not damage the monument. I did not touch the place of burial,” said the accused.
The funeral is guarded, so Tsybaneva waited for the right moment to leave a note. The Petersburger did not know that video cameras were installed there. She was identified from their notes when the note was found.
His lawyer, Veronika Karagodina, assured during the debate that Tsybaneva did not intend to desecrate the grave of the president’s parents, because, due to the depression caused by watching the news, she considered acceptable a such “format for expressing feelings” – and besides, she had seen how people leave notes at the Petersburg Xenia Chapel in the Smolensk cemetery, and these messages “by default no one reads”.
According to the defender, CCTV footage from the cemetery proves the fact that the note was invisible, because, judging by them, after Tsybaneva, other people approached the grave and paid no attention to the paper. The Court also ignored this argument.
The defendant also insisted that she ruled out the possibility of her note being read by a stranger. She folded the “very small” paper face down, stuck it in the ground next to the grid among the grass and sprinkled it on top, thinking that over time the paper would get wet and for “natural reasons” would disappear. This was confirmed by the data of the examination, but the court refused to interpret them in favor of Tsybaneva.
The retiree also claimed that she had come to the cemetery to visit the church, but along the way “beautiful fences and monuments” caught her eye. “My legs themselves brought me to the grave of Putin’s parents,” the woman said during the trial.
Tsybaneva left a note on October 6, on October 10 she was arrested, and on October 12 the court placed her under house arrest, although the investigation asked to place the pensioner in a temporary detention center. In November, the preventive measure was replaced by a ban on certain actions – visiting the Serafimovsky cemetery, communicating with witnesses, leaving St. Petersburg, using the Internet and other means of communication.
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