MP Yurchyshyn filed a complaint with the SBU against the director of the film “Russians at War”
27 September 2024 06:30
MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn has asked to open a case against Anastasia Trofimova, director of the documentary Russians at War, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
“I have filed a statement with the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Security Service of Ukraine regarding Trofimova and will wait for the opening of criminal proceedings. It is Ukraine that should be the first to respond and initiate a case that violates our laws and vision of war,” wrote the MP, who is also the head of the parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech.
According to Yurchyshyn, the actions of the Russian-Canadian filmmaker fall under the article of the Criminal Code on justifying, recognising as lawful, denying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and glorifying its participants. This is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years.
“Canadian filmmaker of Russian origin Anastasia Trofimova shows the occupiers as people who fight mainly for money and feel disappointed by their participation in hostilities. But in civilian life, they are good people and generally great family men. As if they were not murderers or invaders of foreign territory, not terrorists or looters, but normal people who were just unlucky to be on our land. And this is not just absurd, but part of Russian propaganda that has managed to infiltrate Western audiences. It is an attempt to push the narrative that Russians are the victims of this war. This is an attempt to absolve them of responsibility and give the occupiers a human face,” said the representative of the Golos faction.
Yurchyshyn noted that Trofimova used to make documentaries for Russia Today, and that now “they are trying to get this propaganda thing into the programme of the festival in Zurich, Switzerland. So we have to be proactive.” This year’s Zurich Film Festival will take place on 3-13 October. In the comments to the post, Yurchyshyn added his statement, which is dated 25 September.
