Elderly woman fined in Moscow for complimenting Zelenskyy

A 70-year old Moscow woman has been convicted in Russia for "discrediting the Russian army" over a conversation in a sanatorium canteen.

Source: Russian Human Rights Centre Memorial

Details: The Shcherbinsky District Court of Moscow has fined 70-year old Olga Slegina RUB 40,000 [approx. US$490 – ed.] for "discrediting the Russian army". It is noted that the court hearing lasted no more than five minutes.

The elderly woman was on trial for a conversation in a canteen at a sanatorium: she said a couple of phrases about Ukraine and complimented President Zelenskyy.

In December 2022, Slegina was staying at the Nalchik sanatorium named after Kirov. On 24 December, the woman had dinner in the dining room with a woman from Odesa. At the table, a humorous conversation ensued about how to correctly pronounce the Ukrainian word "palianytsia" [a word popularised at the start of the war, when Ukrainian defence forces encountered a suspected Russian saboteur passing himself off as a Ukrainian, they usually asked him to say this Ukrainian word for a type of local bread – ed.] During the conversation, Olga asked her male neighbour whether he was for Russia or for Ukraine, without mentioning the war.

After dinner, waitress Natalya Zakharova approached the table, and Olga also asked her if she knew the word "palianytsia" and whom she supported. In response, Zakharova said that Zelenskyy was a "freak".

Olga replied that "Zelenskyy is a handsome young man with a good sense of humour, everyone used to laugh at his jokes". She also asked: "Don’t Ukrainians in your republic shout ’Glory to Ukraine’, as they do here in our Moscow?"

On 27 December, at 12:00, a man in civilian clothes came to Slegina's room. He showed "some credentials" and said that three people had contacted the police with statements. They indicate that Olga had "praised Zelensky". The woman replied that the conversation was only about the appearance of the president of Ukraine.

The pensioner was taken under escort to a police car in front of holidaymakers and taken to the police station.

After interrogation, she signed a document, which, as Memorial notes, she could not read, because she was without glasses and suffers from cataracts.

In the protocol, the words of the woman were altered. In particular, it stated that she shouted "Glory to Ukraine" and "expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation in the country".

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