WMA joins call for Dr Nadezhda Buyanova’s immediate release and for all charges against her to be dropped

The World Medical Association, representing more than 10 million physicians worldwide, has added its voice to that of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, calling for the immediate release of Dr Nadezhda Buyanova and for all charges against her to be dropped.

Dr Nadezhda Buyanova, a 68-year-old paediatrician, was condemned to five and a half years prison by a Moscow court for ‘anti-war’ remarks allegedly made during a private medical appointment. She has been convicted of “public dissemination, for political or ideological reasons, of knowingly false information about the Russian army.”

The WMA is dismayed by the sentencing of a physician to imprisonment for comments she allegedly made during a private medical consultation, which she strongly contests.

“Such a conviction seriously undermines the patient-physician relationship, which is based on trust,” said Dr Ashok Philip, President of the World Medical Association.

“The patient-physician relationship should never be subject to political interference. Russia must respect its international commitments and protect freedom of expression rather than send its citizens to prison,” he added.

The expression of an opinion is an essential human right enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Russian Federation ratified in 1973.

See the WMA Declaration of Cordoba on Patient-Physician Relationship.