Russia sentenced artist Alexandra Skochilenko to seven years in prison on Thursday (Nov 16) for propagating false information about the army after she replaced grocery price tags with slogans condemning Russia’s military incursion in Ukraine.
According to AFP, Skochilenko’s supporters chanted “shame” and “we’re with you Sasha” in the courtroom, rejecting judge Oksana Demiasheva’s ruling.
Alexandra Skochilenko, 33, is the most recent of hundreds of Russians detained, imprisoned, or fined for criticizing Putin’s massive Ukraine operation.
Skochilenko told the judge in her closing statement that she was a pacifist who loved human life above all else.
“Whatever decision you take, you’ll go down in history,” Skochilenko told the judge, according to a recording of her speech made by supporters.
“You can show how to resolve conflict with the help of words and compassion.”
“Every person in this room wants only one thing: Peace. Why fight?” she said in a statement.
‘You’re judging a pacifist,’ Alexandra argues.
Alexandra Skochilenko agreed to change the tags in court but claimed that the wording printed on them was fictitious.
“How weak is our prosecutor’s faith in our state and society if he thinks our statehood and public safety can be ruined by five little pieces of paper?” she said in court.
“Everyone sees and knows that you are not judging a terrorist. You’re not trying an extremist. You’re not even trying a political activist. And you’re judging a pacifist,” she added.
According to the news agency AFP, Skochilenko suffers from celiac disease and a congenital heart abnormality.
Alexandra Skochilenko, an illustrator and singer, was jailed in April 2022, at the time Russia imposed a harsh blockade on Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol.
Skochilenko, who is openly gay, has also stated that the trial against her could be explained by “hatred towards minorities” in very traditional Russia.
In the first days of Moscow’s offensive., she had participated in Russian street protests.