A court in the southern city of Kielce is to rule today whether the terms Ruski and Ruska are offensive when referring Russians and whether their use can be punishable by law.

The case was brought to court by Lubow Dziubinska, a Russian woman who has been living in the village of Staporkowo, southern Poland, since 1991 after getting married to a Pole.

Teresa, Dziubinska’s sister-in-law, is charged with “insulting another person publically with the intention to hurt,” when referring to the Russian woman as “Ruska”

Lubow reported the offence at the local police station.

“As far as I remember villagers always called me Ruska and my son Ruski, even though he was born in Poland,” says Dziubinska. “But the worst came when I filed for divorce because my husband, who is an alcoholic, abused me physically and mentally. His family, mainly his sister, called me a Russian whore,” Dziubinska told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

A previous trial acquitted the sister-in-law but Dziubinska appealed and the same court later ruled that Teresa did call Dziubinska ruska but the word, even though disrespectful, is not punishable under Polish law in the same way as other racist terms of abuse are.

The Russian woman decided to appeal again and the case will be heard before the District Court in Kielce today.

“I come from Russia. I’m Russian and I’m proud of it! The fact that I have lived in Poland for 20 years does not mean that I have no rights (…) the court’s ruling allows Teresa Cz. and others to offend me without being punished for it,” Dziubinska says. (mg/pg)