Russian artist and musician Alexandra Skochilenko, who on the 31st of March 2022 staged a protest against Moscow’s war in Ukraine by replacing price tags in a supermarket in St. Petersburg with small pieces of paper calling for an end to the conflict, faces eight years in a colony after a court hearing on Wednesday, 8th of November, reports Reuters.
The State prosecutor Alexander Gladyshev demanded an eight-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on internet use for Skochilenko, according to the St. Petersburg courts.
In St. Petersburg, the trial of artist Sasha Skochilenko, accused of spreading “fake news” due to replacing price tags in a store with anti-war statements, is ending. The prosecutor demands 8 years of penal colony for the young woman, who has been imprisoned for 1,5 years
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Skochilenko had previously been accused of committing a serious crime based on “political hatred against the Russian Federation”, which she denies. She was detained on the 11th of April 2022 after a shop visitor reported her protest, according to Reuters.
She faces charges of knowingly spreading false information about the Russian army,
which carries a maximum sentence of ten years, or in some cases up to 15 years in prison.
Amnesty International has declared Skochilenko a “prisoner of conscience” – someone who has not used or supported violence or hatred and is imprisoned only for who they are or what they believes, as per Reuters.
Copies of the replica price tags that got her into the trouble can still be seen on a website run by her supporters calling for her release.
Alexandra Skochilenko’s price tags accused the Russian army of bombing a theatre in Mariupol where civilians were sheltering, claimed that Russia was deploying conscripts in Ukraine, quoted Russian casualty figures and criticised state television for not reporting them, accused President Putin of lying and claimed that “her great-grandfather did not fight in the World War Two so that Russia would become a fascist state and attack Ukraine”. Russia has denied all these accusations.
The next hearing will take place on 13 November.
Read also: Journalist protesting Russia’s war gets over eight years in prison
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