Russian woman charged for ‘desecrating’ Putin grave

Irina Tsybaneva was found guilty of desecrating the Putin family plot in St Petersburg and handed a two-year suspended sentence

A Russian woman who left a note on President Putin’s parents’ grave saying they had raised a “monster and murderer” has been handed a two-year suspended sentence.

Irina Tsybaneva, a 60-year-old retiree from St Petersburg, was found guilty of desecrating the Putin family plot in October last year.

Tsybaneva said she was motivated by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and referenced the war in her note, which said Mr Putin had caused “so much pain and trouble,” the Novaya Gazeta Europe news website reported.

“Death to Putin, you brought up a monster and a murderer,” the note said as it urged the president’s deceased parents to “take him with you”.

“The whole world is praying he would die,” it added.

State prosecutors had sought a three-year suspended sentence for Tsybaneva, whose lawyers said she did not plead guilty because she had not desecrated the grave physically or sought publicity for her action.

Tsybaneva, who was initially placed under house arrest and prevented from going online and banned from visiting the Serafimovskoe Cemetery in St Petersburg, does not plan to appeal the verdict, her lawyers said.

The case of Tsybaneva is the latest in a growing number where Russian citizens have fallen foul of the country’s draconian censorship laws.

The Kremlin introduced sweeping new changes to censorship laws shortly after ordering tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last February.

Vyacheslav Volodin, a senior government minister, said he was toughening up the legislation to “ensure the security of our country and our citizens”.

Tsybaneva said she was motivated by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine (AP)

“Discrediting" the army was made punishable by up to five years in prison, while spreading knowingly false information about it could attract a 15-year jail sentence.

Mr Volodin introduced amendments to the law which he said would bring in a maximum of 15 years for both offences.

Earlier this year a pensioner who described Ukraine President Volodymyr  Zelenksy as a "handsome young man with a good sense of humour" was fined by a court in Moscow.

Olga Slegina was convicted of “discrediting the Russian armed forces”.

The 70-year-old was arrested in Nalchik, southern Russia, after making the comment to a waitress in a canteen at the medical centre where she was a guest last Christmas.

In March a man was faced three years behind bars for joking about the war.

Vasily Bolshakov was detained by armed police who raided his home in the Ryazan region.

The joke that outraged officials was about a fictional conversation between President Putin and Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, after Russia had retreated from the city of Kherson.

He was charged with “discrediting” the Russian army after being reported to authorities by a fellow Metro passenger.