Sasha Skochilenko was arrested in his native St. Petersburg in April 2022 and accused of spreading misinformation about the military after altering the price tag of a sign condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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A Russian court convicted an artist and musician on Thursday of defacing supermarket price tags with anti-war messages, and jailed him for seven years in one of the most high-profile cases involving a recent crackdown on free speech. Sentenced to jail.
Sasha Skochilenko was arrested in his native St. Petersburg in April 2022 and accused of spreading misinformation about the military after altering the price tag of a sign condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Russian forces bombed an art school in Mariupol. About 400 people were hiding in it due to shelling,” one read. Another said, “Russian soldiers are being sent to Ukraine. The lives of our children are the price of this war.”
When a customer found the slogans in the supermarket, he informed the authorities.
Skochilenko’s arrest came about a month after authorities adopted a law effectively criminalizing any public expression that deviates from the official Kremlin line about the war. The law has been used in a wide-ranging crackdown on opposition politicians, human rights activists and ordinary citizens critical of the Kremlin, many of whom have received long prison sentences.
‘You’re trying to be a pacifist’
Skochilenko, 33, has not denied changing the price tag but rejected accusations of deliberately spreading misinformation.
His lawyer, Yana Nepovinova, told The Associated Press last week that his intention was not to insult the military but that he wanted to stop the fighting.
“He is a very sympathetic, peace-loving person. For them, in general, the word ‘war’ is the most terrible thing imaginable, as is the suffering of people,” Nepovinova said.
Russian independent news site Mediazona quoted Skochilenko as saying in his final statement in court on Thursday that the case against him was “grotesque and ridiculous” – so much so that officials at the facility where he was detained “open their eyes And say: ‘Is this really what people are being imprisoned for?’
He also alleged that an investigator working on his case even quit his job, telling one of his lawyers that he “did not join the Investigative Committee to work on cases like Sasha Skochilenko.”
Addressing the judge in a courtroom packed with supporters, Skocilenko said: “Everyone sees and knows this is not a terrorist you are trying. You’re not trying to be extremist. You are not even trying to be a political activist. You’re trying to be a pacifist.”
His supporters applauded and reported that after the verdict was announced and Skocilenko was taken away, they gathered in an aisle and began chanting his name, Mediazona reported.
health scare
Skochilenko has been detained for approximately 19 months before his trial, meaning his total term will be reduced by more than two years because every day spent in a pre-trial detention center is equivalent to the time spent in a regular penal colony. Counts equal to 1.5 days.
But her lawyers and her partner have said she has struggled while in custody because of health problems, including a congenital heart defect, bipolar disorder and celiac disease, which requires a gluten-free diet.
When he was held in St. Petersburg, he may have had the chance to see outside doctors, but what would happen if Skochilenko were transferred to a more remote penal colony remains uncertain, said his partner Sofia Subbotina. .
He added, “There is a huge fear that Sasha will die without medical help.”
Russia’s most prominent human rights group and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Memorial has declared Skochilenko a political prisoner.
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According to OVD-Info, another major rights group that monitors political arrests and provides legal aid, those arrested for speaking out or demonstrating against the war totaled 19,834 between February 24, when the war began, and the end of October 2023. The Russians have been arrested.
long prison sentence
About 750 people have faced criminal charges for their anti-war stances, and more than 8,100 have faced minor charges of defaming the military, punishable by a fine or a short prison term. There may be punishment.
Longer terms are given in the highest-profile cases. Prominent opposition leader Ilya Yashin was jailed for 8 1/2 years on similar charges, as was Moscow student activist Dmitry Ivanov. Yashin’s colleague on the Moscow municipal council, Alexei Goryanov, received a seven-year sentence.
Russians convicted in absentia, including cookbook author Veronika Belotserkovskaya or TV journalist and former lawmaker Alexander Nevzorov, and many others were given similar sentences.
Also on Thursday, opposition politician Vladimir Milov was convicted in absentia of spreading misinformation about the military and sentenced to eight years in prison. Milov, who was once Russia’s deputy energy minister and now an ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has left Russia.
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In Skochilenko’s case, the prosecution had asked for eight years in prison. In an interview with the St. Petersburg news outlet Bumaga, the pensioner who reported him to the authorities was surprised by this, saying: “As for the pieces of paper, it definitely should have been less.”
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