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The Faculty of Arts of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen disagrees with the charges brought against Svetlana Mesyats, an expert on ancient philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The faculty has joined a joint statement issued by the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences and eight other Czech academic institutions. In the text, their representatives express serious concern and alarm regarding academic freedom for scholars in Russia. Local authorities accuse Svetlana Mesyats of embezzling funds from a project focused on ancient philosophy. Representatives of the Czech institutions consider the charges to be politically motivated.

Svetlana Mesyats has been under house arrest since May, but she faces up to ten years behind bars. The reason given is alleged irregularities in the cost reporting of a seven-year research and translation project. Czech and international colleagues, who know Dr. Mesyats as an honest and conscientious researcher, consider the charges highly unlikely. Given the scholar’s international professional reputation and the nature of the low-cost humanities project, there is suspicion that the charges may be a surrogate tool for political and ideological control over the scientific institution and its direction.

Furthermore, the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences has been repeatedly targeted in the past as being pro-Western or too liberal. Specifically, the study of Aristotle’s writings has been labeled unpatriotic by these attacks. Fears that the case of Svetlana Mesyats may be a manifestation of the suppression of free research under a seemingly legal pretext are reinforced by the Czech historical experience with the persecution of academics between 1948 and 1989. “Against the backdrop of this experience, we consider it our duty to express serious concerns not only about academic freedom in the Russian Federation, but also about the personal safety of Dr. Mesyats and her colleagues,” the joint statement reads.

The following institutions have joined the statement:

Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc
Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava
Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, University of Pardubice
Faculty of Arts, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen
Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology, Palacký University Olomouc
Council of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic
Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of Science, Charles University
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice