Irina Gene, a Penza-based English- and German-teaching assistant, is facing a difficult situation. For giving a speech to his students against war, he was sentenced to several years imprisonment.
Gen was asked by students on March 18 why Russian athletes and sportmen were not allowed to participate in international competitions. The young girls, 13 and 14, asked Gen why Russian athletes and sportsmen were banned from participating in international competitions. The woman explained it to The Guardian.
“Until Russia begins to behave in a civilized manner, the non-admission of Russian athletes to competitions will continue forever… I think it is correct”, He said. However, she didn’t realize that she was being taped and that her audio would be broadcast via Telegram. Telegram is a Kremlin-linked network. “Russia wanted to get to kyiv and overthrow the government! Ukraine is, in fact, a sovereign state, there is a sovereign government… We live under a totalitarian system. Any dissidence is considered a crime.”
Five days later, after giving her explanation to her students she received a phone call from the local FSB branch requesting that she come to his office. She was told that security agencies had obtained footage of her speech. She explained that she had only cited respectable Western media such the BBC and AP. “They are media that I think are professional and objective in their reports. However, they didn’t agree to that argument.
The teacher now faces a Long term possible sentence, believes that she is being prosecuted “for a point of view that is not official”. She said, “My family has already been through a campaign in persecution in the Soviet Union once,” referring to Stalin’s great purge, in which hundreds of thousands decried their neighbors, friends, and relatives as “enemies” of the state.