Alexander Byvshev

Alexander Byvshev (Russian: Александр Бывшев) is a Russian teacher, and poet from Oryol Oblast. He was convicted in 2015 for writing pro-Ukrainian poetry.[1] Six criminal "extremism" cases were open against him for writing poetry with criticism of Stalin and other Soviet leadership during World War II and Russian military intervention in Ukraine[2]

Biography

Byvshev taught the German language at a secondary school in the town of Kromy and was writing poetry[3] In some of his published poems, such as "To Ukrainian patriots", he denounced the Annexation of Crimea and called Ukrainians to resist.[4] His work was criticized in a local newspaper.[5] In May, 2014, criminal proceedings were initiated against him for extremism. In 2015, he was accused for "incitement to hatred and enmity"[6] and was sentenced to 300 hours of community service.

Byvshev was consequently fired and added to a "List of Terrorists and Extremists",[7] the consequences of which included all his bank accounts being frozen.[3] The SOVA Center, a Moscow-based non-profit organization that monitors human rights, described the local media campaign against Byvshev as reminiscent of Stalinist campaign against "rootless cosmopolitans". The Russian Language Wikipedia deleted its article about him.[3]

References
  1. Russian poet sentenced over poem in support of Ukraine
  2. Russian Investgative Committee is looking into poetry by Byvshev (Russian)
  3. Coynash, Halya (18 June 2015). "Poet labelled 'terrorist', flung off Wikipedia for verse in support of Ukraine". Human Rights in Ukraine. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  4. "Russian poet sentenced over poem in support of Ukraine - Human Rights in Ukraine". khpg.org. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  5. "The Propaganda War: Opposition Sings Kremlin Tune on Ukraine". Der Spiegel. April 22, 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  6. "A poet from Kromy was condemned as "extremist"". SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  7. Kyiv Post, June 20, 2015
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