Russian teacher sentenced for telling students about war crimes in Ukraine

Authored by telegraph.co.uk and submitted by TheTelegraph

A school teacher in a provincial Russian city has received a suspended sentence for speaking out in class against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

A court in Penza, 500 kilometres southeast of Moscow, on Thursday found Irina Gen guilty of “discrediting the Russian armed forces” under a new law that has banned any criticism of the war in Ukraine and gave her a five-year suspended sentence. The 45-year-old English teacher will also be barred from working in state schools for three years.

The court in Penza found that she “disseminated false information” by telling her students about the siege of Mariupol and Russian airstrikes killing children in Ukraine.

Ms Gen was slapped with charges in March after one of her students posted online a recording of her explaining to the class why they could no longer travel to Europe for a sports competition.

The teacher told her teenage students that Russia “will not be welcome anywhere until it starts behaving in a civilised manner” and that Moscow was trying to topple a legitimate government in Ukraine and killing civilians there.

She was heard criticising the new war censorship law and said that any public display of dissent will now trigger a prison sentence: “All of us will be thrown to jail for 15 years.”

Thin_Impression8199 on August 4th, 2022 at 12:57 UTC »

the saddest thing is that it was the children who complained to the authorities about her.

MalevolentPizza on August 4th, 2022 at 12:40 UTC »

Not surprising when all that's required for a jail sentence is to be on the opposing political party.

TheTelegraph on August 4th, 2022 at 12:33 UTC »

From our Russia Correspondent Nataliya Vasilyeva:

'A school teacher in a provincial Russian city has received a suspended sentence for speaking out in class against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

'A court in Penza, 500 kilometres southeast of Moscow, on Thursday found Irina Gen guilty of “discrediting the Russian armed forces” under a new law that has banned any criticism of the war in Ukraine and gave her a five-year suspended sentence.

'The 45-year-old English teacher will also be barred from working in state schools for three years.

'The court in Penza found that she “disseminated false information” by telling her students about the siege of Mariupol and Russian airstrikes killing children in Ukraine.

'Ms Gen was slapped with charges in March after one of her students posted online a recording of her explaining to the class why they could no longer travel to Europe for a sports competition.

'The teacher told her teenage students that Russia “will not be welcome anywhere until it starts behaving in a civilised manner” and that Moscow was trying to topple a legitimate government in Ukraine and killing civilians there.

Read more for free: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/08/04/russian-teacher-sentenced-telling-students-war-crimes-ukraine/