Is the story of that Soviet beekeeper being sent to a gulag for writing "comedy" on an electoral ballot in 1949 true ?

by TheBaconIsPow

His name was Ivan Burylov, its often got some photos attached to it. Soviet voting was secret, no ? Ive always wanted to see the bottom of this.

supercooper25

There is literally no evidence that anyone called Ivan Burylov even exists, this claim was made by a single anonymous website and the only source they provided was a random mugshot of some Russian dude. In fact, there weren't even any elections in 1949, it's honestly one of the most laughable claims I've ever come across.