The regional FSB informed the teacher and poet Alexander Byvshev from the village of Kromy, Oryol region, that a criminal case was initiated against him on the grounds of the crime under Part 2 of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code ("Public calls for the implementation of extremist activities committed with the use of mass media").
Prior to the initiation of the case on July 26, Byvshev was searched, after which he predicted the initiation of a new case. The man told «7x7»’s correspondent that he did not know yet what caused the new case.
"If the case was opened on July 27, then investigation and examination should have been held at least a month earlier. My lawyer says that, probably, it is related to some poem, but, perhaps, to all the work of the last period. As an author, I try to figure it out, but there's no such thing even close, complete nonsense," said Byvshev.
Also, according to him, a recent search seemed strange to him — the operatives compiled an act that they did not find a computer. Byvshev suggests that the search was needed to install the listening devices.
Teacher of foreign languages of the Kromy school Oryol Alexander Byshev was recognized as an extremist in 2015 for poetry in support of Ukraine, published in 2014. After that, he was included to the official list of extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring, and the bank blocked the accounts of Byvshev, where his parents kept their savings.
In 2016, the third criminal case on extremism for the poem "On the Independence of Ukraine" was opened against Byvshev, which he considers an answer to the poet Joseph Brodsky. On March 1, 2017, this decision was cancelled after the complaint of Byvshev.
On April 9, 2018 Byvshev was subjected to 330 hours of compulsory work, and the court decided to return the laptop, seized by the investigation, after the removal of extremist materials. The Kromsky district prosecutor's office appealed the court's decision and asked for the real term of imprisonment.
At the same time law enforcement agencies notified Byvshev about the investigation of two more criminal cases regarding poetry. Cases were combined, the investigation proceeds.
The European Court of Human Rights has communicated Byshev's complaint to two previous verdicts for extremist poems. In January 2018, «7x7» published a report about the trip to Alexander Byvshev. Two elderly parents with disabilities are in his care.
Vladimir Prokushev, «7x7»
