Irina Tolmacheva

Civic activist, former chair of the Teachers' Alliance. In March 2022, a case was brought against her for knowingly disseminating false information about the Armed Forces. On 22 September 2022, the court returned the case to the prosecutor's office due to the fact that the exact time of writing the comment and the time zone difference between Moscow and Novosibirsk were not specified in the case. In December, the case came back to court. On 7 June 2023, during the arguments, the prosecutor asked Tolmacheva to be sentenced to two years in prison, pointing out that she had committed a crime of medium gravity (a misdemeanor). Tolmacheva replied that at the time the case was initiated, it was considered a minor offence. The prosecutor then asked to sentence her to 10 months of correctional labour. On 6 July, the court sentenced Tolmacheva to nine months of correctional labour. In her social networks Tolmacheva publishes posts about neuralgia, from which she has been suffering for several years. In March 2024 it became known that she was released from the execution of the sentence due to her illness, as in December 2023 the medical commission decided that Irina was not liable to punishment due to her illness (cerebellar ataxia).