Alexander Byvshev

Alexander Byvshev is a Russian teacher, and poet from Oryol Oblast. He was convicted in 2015 for writing pro-Ukrainian poetry. Six criminal extremism cases were open against him for writing poetry with criticism of Josef Stalin and other Soviet leadership during World War II and Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

Biography Byvshev taught German at a secondary school in the town of Kromy and was writing poetry His work was criticized in a local newspaper. In May, 2014, criminal proceedings were initiated against him for extremism. In 2015, he was accused for "incitement to hatred and enmity" and was sentenced to 300 hours of community service.

Byvshev was consequently fired and added to a "List of Terrorists and Extremists", the consequences of which included all his bank accounts being frozen.