Woman fined for writing ‘Burn in hell’ alongside Putin’s name on ballot sheet

A court in the Tula region of central Russia has fined a woman 30,000 rubles (€300) for defacing her ballot sheet in this month’s presidential election, independent media outlet 7x7 wrote Friday, citing the regional court press service.

The woman, who was only identified by her surname, Filyakina, was found guilty of an administrative charge of “discrediting” the army. The court found that when Filyakina went to vote at the polling station in the village of Voskresenskoye on 17 March, she crossed out all the candidates’ names on the ballot sheet, once in the booth, and wrote next to Vladimir Putin: “Burn in hell forever!!! Forgive us, Ukraine!!! Thief and murderer!!!”

She then dropped the ballot into the transparent ballot box. It landed face up, meaning her words were visible to everyone.

Incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin secured another six-year term in office earlier this month with a whopping 87.28% of the vote, his highest result ever. A Novaya Gazeta Europe statistical analysis uncovered unprecedented levels of voter fraud, with at least 22 million fake votes cast for Putin.