Ivan Zolotov - Т-инвариант / T-invariant

Ivan Zolotov

Ivan Zolotov
Date of incident: November 10, 2023
Type of violation: fine, dismissal
Institution: Ural Technological College (MIFI branch in Zarechny)

Summary: The Beloyarsky District Court fined Ivan Zolotov, a teacher from Zarechny (Sverdlovsk Region), 40 thousand rubles under the article on “discrediting the army” (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). As Zolotov told It’s My City, the court accused him of publishing anti-war poems on his personal page on VKontakte.

Details: “The court did not call our witnesses, listened only to three prosecution witnesses, who were confused in their testimony,” Zolotov told It’s My City. He noted that Judge Georgy Kutsy did not grant a single motion from the defense, except for the request to keep a record of the proceedings. Former colleagues, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Boris Vishnevsky and deputies of the City Duma of Zarechny spoke out in support of the teacher. Now Zolotov and his lawyer intend to appeal the case in the regional court.

In June 2023, Zolotov’s colleagues, head of the college security department Evgeny Oleynikov-Mendrukh and teacher Natalya Zerkaliy, noticed anti-war poems by Evgenia Berkovich, Alexander Galich and Alexander Delfinov on Zolotov’s VKontakte page, which Zolotov published in February and May 2023, and reported him. After this, the teacher was fired, Kommersant writes.

Sources: It’s My City, Kommersant.

10 November 2023

Et Cetera

“If DOGE plans go through, U.S. scientific leadership will end.” American scientist – on Musk’s health care reform

In the coming days, the U.S. Senate is expected to confirm the new director of the National Institutes of Health. The key institution of American science has come under pressure from the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), which is headed by Elon Musk. Why the reforms initiated by Donald Trump’s people are reminiscent of the situation in Germany in the 1930s and how the DOGE plans threaten the development of science – the head of one of the laboratories of the National Institute of Health told T-invariant.

Co-authors. Who and How Fabricated the Case Against Physicist Oleg Kabov?

During the trial of physicist Oleg Kabov, it emerged that the criminal case had been initiated by two of his former students. One of them, after threatening Kabov, joined the FSB (Federal Security Service of Russia), after which the second student filed a denunciation against his former scientific supervisor. It also became clear that the embezzlement case lacked any financial evidence, and that the allegations regarding the falsification of Kabov’s scientific results had been manufactured by FSB officers. The prosecution is demanding a seven-year prison term, a significant fine, and a three-year prohibition on conducting scientific research. The defendant has asked the judge to reopen the investigation. The judge must now decide whether there is sufficient information to deliver a verdict or if the case should be sent back for further investigation.

T-invariant and CISRUS launched a chronicle of violations of the rights and freedoms of scientists and teachers

Dismissals, fines, stigmatization, criminal cases, torture — all this awaits in Russia those who are trying to tell the truth, oppose war, protect peace, criticize the authorities or simply honestly do their academic and teaching work .

T-invariant and the CISRUS Centerwill work together to chronicle the persecution of scientists in Russia for as long as it continues. If you have witnessed or been the target of academic harassment, please contact us at [email protected].

The chronicle records violations of the rights and freedoms of scientists and teachersas citizens of the Russian Federation, as well as violations of their academic rights and freedoms by the leadership of their scientific institution.