A notorious figure, once dubbed a "doctor," has been acquitted of serious charges despite allegations of causing patient deaths. His recent social media outburst has reignited public inte...

On November 14, 2024, judge Halyna Bilinska of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court in Lviv declared Andrii Slyusarchuk, better known as "Doctor Pi," not guilty and acquitted him on three charges: document forgery (Art. 358), illegal medical practice (Art. 138), and fraud (Art. 190). Despite accusations from parents linking the pseudo-doctor to the deaths of children after surgeries, the court found no criminal elements in his actions. In January 2025, the Lviv Court of Appeals opened proceedings at the request of prosecutors, meaning the acquittal has not yet become legally binding.

The verdict became the latest news item that briefly returned Andrii Slyusarchuk to the media spotlight. However, just a few days later, he was forgotten again. In February, tension arose in relations between Ukraine and the United States due to sharp remarks made by newly elected President Donald Trump about Volodymyr Zelensky. "Doctor Pi" decided to respond to these events, revealing that he actively manages social media and claims to continue his medical practice.

ZAXID.NET explains the dangers of the pseudo-doctor's return to the information space and what he is currently doing.

An Anonymous Page Made Slyusarchuk Famous Again

Slyusarchuk gained a new surge in popularity thanks to a post on Facebook addressing U.S. President Donald Trump. Prior to this, the pseudo-doctor had been sharing primitive and self-indulgent writings, which, judging by the reactions, were unsuccessful with readers. Occasionally, Slyusarchuk presented himself in his posts as a "neurosurgeon, hypnotherapist, professor" and published photos in surgical scrubs from an operating room. However, even these titles did not boost his popularity. His Instagram page has just over a thousand followers, and his photos receive 5-10 likes.

His Facebook posts were also not popular until recently, but everything changed on February 20 when Slyusarchuk's emotional appeal to Donald Trump was shared by an account under the name Olha Smolyar (Smolyar Olga). On her Facebook page, Smolyar labeled herself as a widow and listed her residence as Kremenchuk. Most likely, this is a fake person and the page is not genuine. Smolyar registered on Facebook on May 6, 2023. Since then, the account has published dozens of posts daily with pseudo-patriotic content. These are mostly AI-generated images and photos with emotionally charged clickbait texts from others' posts that exploit themes of war, fallen soldiers, and injustice, capitalizing on others' suffering.

In May 2024, the same account made headlines by spreading a fake story about a soldier from Ternopil who allegedly rode the metro in Kyiv on one leg to his unit and "no one helped him" – no one offered him a seat. The story was accompanied by a photo of a soldier with an amputated leg standing in a subway car with bags. Viktor Trehubov pointed out that the soldier's uniform was of Russian manufacture "Beryozka," the train car was also Russian, and a map of the Moscow metro was visible on the side. The post received over a thousand shares and even more likes.

Slyusarchuk's post to Donald Trump garnered 68,000 shares, a record for this fake page. The post was shared by politicians, journalists, and doctors, many of whom defended Slyusarchuk and argued that he is almost a luminary in medicine. Several media outlets reported on this appeal, including the Lviv sites "Espresso" and "Vysokyi Zamok".

It is worth noting the direction of the posts on Smolyar's page. Some of them have a distinctly skeptical, often hostile attitude towards Ukraine's military-political leadership. Unsurprisingly, the most criticism in Olha Smolyar's posts is directed at President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Andrii Slyusarchuk's poems also reflect a similar sentiment. For instance, in the poem "Step Through Ashes," Slyusarchuk portrays the Russian-Ukrainian war as a conflict between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

They dig graves – not a day, but an hour,

where mothers raise crosses from sand.

And you – two jackals in human guise,

divide the land as if it's a lot in a sale.

This approach fits perfectly within the paradigm of Russian propaganda, which strips Ukraine of its agency as an independent state capable of resolving its own affairs.

The text of Slyusarchuk's appeal to Trump is similarly infused with this spirit. Moreover, the choice of certain words may suggest that the text was originally written in Russian and then translated into Ukrainian using Google Translate. For example, the sentence "Do you call Putin a 'genius'?" directly indicates that the original may have been: "Вы зовете Путина 'гением'?".

Classic Discrediting Technology

Thousands of Ukrainians who shared "Slyusarchuk's appeal" became victims of an information provocation. Journalist Denys Kazansky notes that such a surge in popularity for the pseudo-doctor would not have occurred if social media users had learned to verify information about the people they actively share.

"Unfortunately, a huge number of our citizens think with their emotions and do not understand what information they are spreading. A massive number of reposts of the post by 'Doctor Slyusarchuk,' better known as Doctor Pi, are flying around Facebook. This is a convicted fraudster who has served time in prison and is not who he claims to be. This information is easily found on Google, but why check anything? People see an emotional post and share it without thinking. The fraudster is pleased. He doesn't even need to change his name. It's enough to write a touching post and mention Trump, and he already has a whole new audience, new fans who don't know how to use search engines. Classic technology," wrote journalist Denys Kazansky.

The journalist adds that in Slyusarchuk's case, a classic discrediting technology has been applied to the entire matter concerning his post.

"Someone is already saying: what difference does it make if he's a fraud, he's writing such important things. This is the classic discrediting technology. If this 'appeal to Trump' actually reaches someone on Trump's team, they will simply say right away – 'this is not a neurosurgeon, but a criminal, no one should believe him, they are all like that.' All messages that Slyusarchuk spreads will be automatically discredited. Stained by his name. Perhaps this campaign is designed for that. But as you can see, it is successful. Because our citizens who do not know how to use Google participate in it quite sincerely," writes Kazansky.

Media expert Otar Dovzhenko is generally skeptical about the authenticity of Slyusarchuk's appeal, as he had not previously shown any journalistic talents. He believes that this post may likely be fueling anti-Western sentiments, which is clearly advantageous for Russia.

"This is a classic media virus. The purpose of its launch can be arbitrary, even entirely unrelated to the content of the text. For example, to fill the information space with multiple copies of the same message, divert attention, or test the readiness of society for such mass campaigns before spreading something truly harmful. Perhaps it is a warming of anti-Western resentment, despair, and pessimism, which is very beneficial for Russia at this fateful time. Or something entirely different. Media viruses, like chain letters in our childhood, can be completely nonsensical – for testing connections and identifying lemmings ready to jump. I see no point in discussing Slyusarchuk himself; this writing could have been signed by Judge Zvarych or Ostap Stakhiv. The problem is that people don't have a detector for nonsense. They don't filter information and are ready to pass along any unknown packages, whose purpose they don't understand or misunderstand," Otar Dovzhenko told ZAXID.NET.

After criticism on social media, Slyusarchuk published several provocative posts, claiming that "Ukraine destroys the best" and that he has no more ambitions in Ukraine.

What "Doctor Pi" is Doing Now

Judging by social media, Andrii Slyusarchuk has a lot of free