A student expelled for anti-war posts was fined more than 1 million rubles

Student Andrey Kotenko ordered more than 1.1 million rubles from the St. Petersburg University of Humanities and Trade Unions. Last September, he was expelled from the university due to anti-war posts on social networks. The Zhukovsky district court of the Kaluga region ruled that the university is obliged to pay compensation to the student. The university was found guilty of violating the rights of the user of educational services.

As reported by the publication “Vazhnye istorii”, the amount awarded by the court includes the debts of the university under contracts for training in higher education programs (the student studied under a contract) and living in a dormitory, a fine for refusing to settle the dispute out of court, as well as 15 thousand rubles in moral damages.

Andrey Kotenko was expelled from the third year of the Faculty of Journalism in September with the wording “for failure”. However, according to his testimony, the real reason for his dismissal was his anti-war comments on social networks.

According to lawyer Andrey Klyga, despite the fact that the student was formally dismissed for failure, the decision of the university administration had a clear political undertone. “He published anti-war posts, the elders wrote to him to stop publishing it. There was also a time when it was necessary to give money for patriotic events at the university – he refused, and he was promised problems for this.”

Kotenko himself confirmed that only after his anti-war publications did repressions begin on the part of teachers. He was forced to write explanations if he came later than five minutes before the start of the lecture. Then he was summoned to the dean’s office: “every story was printed on A4 format, every post was printed on a color printer, and he was asked to comment on everything”, he was suspended from working on the educational channel and was banned from filming at the university. The chronology of Kotenko’s dismissal was reviewed in detail by The Vyshka publication.

• In March of last year, two doctors of philosophy resigned from the University of Trade Unions in St. Petersburg after the university management forbade them to speak out against the war in Ukraine. Also, several students who were detained during protest actions were expelled from the university.
• The rector of the university, Alexander Zapesotsky, forbade students to wear bright sneakers, hoodies, and other elements of sports clothing, and threatened to be expelled for communicating with journalists, and the head of the security service called for reports on those who conduct anti-war agitation.