Jailed for a Like

Episode Three: Silencing the Poet

By Katia Patin
11 April 2017
video

This is the story of Alexandr Byvshev, a poet and a schoolteacher from Russia’s Oryol region who was sentenced to 300 hours of labor for posting a poem about Ukraine that criticized Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

In January, a second new criminal case was started against Byvshev for another poem about Ukraine.

Jailed for a Like tracks cases of Russians who have been prosecuted or imprisoned for their posts, shares or likes on social media.

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