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A 60-year-old Russian woman who admitted to leaving a note on the grave of Vladimir Putin's parents has been released from house arrest.
"Parents of a maniac, take him to your place, he causes so much pain and trouble, the whole world is praying for his death," read the note, placed on the grave days before Putin's 70th birthday. "Death to Putin, you raised a freak and a murderer."
Irina Tsybanyova's son, Maxim, told Mediazona on Monday that his mother had been released by the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg as part of a criminal case that has denied her the ability to communicate with witnesses, use the telephone and internet, leave the region, or visit the Serafimovskoe cemetery.
That cemetery was the location of Tsybanyova's alleged crime, Radio Free Europe reported at the time of her arrest on October 10.
Two days later, according to Radio Svoboda, Tsybanyova was given house arrest even though investigators requested that she be locked up and detained.
The official statement reported by The Moscow Times and released by the Saint Petersburg Judiciary said that Tsybanyova "committed cynical, immoral acts contrary to the norms accepted in society."
"Namely, she left a note with an insulting inscription addressed to the President of the Russian Federation, thus desecrating a burial place," the statement added.
She reportedly was arrested criminally for desecration of a burial place based on ideological hostility, identified as clause B of part 2 of Article 244 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Her government-appointed lawyer, Sergei Trusov, said her charge was punishable by up to five years in prison if found guilty.
Mediazona reported that Tsybanyova has not denied writing the note, attributing it as a response to "looking at the news."
"I realized that everything is very scary, everything is very sad, there are a lot of dead," she said, according to an English translation.
It wasn't the first instance of a written message being left at the grave of parents Vladimir and Maria Putin, who died in 1999 and 1998, respectively.
A Telegram post from September showed a photo featuring a page ripped out of a diary, reading: "Dear parents! Your son behaves awfully! He skips history lessons, fights with classmates, threatens to blow up the school! Undertake proper measures!"
It was assumed to be a message directed to Putin regarding his responsibility for the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin for comment.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek investigative reporter based in Michigan. His focus includes U.S. and international politics and policies, immigration, ... Read more