Lawyers seek release of Russian artist who staged anti-war price tag protest

(Reuters) – Lawyers representing a Russian artist and musician who replaced supermarket price tags with demands for an end to Moscow’s war in Ukraine will appeal for her release on Monday after a state prosecutor sought an eight-year prison term for her.

Alexandra Skochilenko, 33, also known as Sasha, has been imprisoned in St. Petersburg for over a year and a half as her case is processed by the Russian legal system. Critics view this as part of a broader crackdown on individuals who speak out against Moscow’s “special military operation”.

Nearly 20,000 people have been detained for anti-war activity, and over 800 criminal cases have been opened against anti-war dissidents, according to the OVD-Info rights group. The Russian government has designated the rights group as a “foreign agent,” and its website is blocked in Russia.

Russia has implemented stricter laws on dissent since sending troops into Ukraine on February 24th of last year, escalating actions against critics that Moscow sees as excessively divisive while the country is engaged in what President Vladimir Putin has framed as an existential struggle against the West.

Skochilenko replaced price tags in a supermarket in her hometown of St. Petersburg on March 31, 2022 with five small pieces of paper advocating for an end to the war. Less than two weeks later, she was detained after a shopper complained.

Skochilenko denies the formal charge of knowingly spreading false information about the Russian army, punishable by up to ten years in her case. Her legal team argues that a lengthy sentence would be particularly damaging for Skochilenko, who was already in poor health before her arrest.

During the proceedings, state prosecutor Alexander Gladyshev urged the judge to imprison her for eight years and ban her from using the Internet for three years – a punishment that shocked Skochilenko’s supporters due to its severity.

The prosecution previously accused Skochilenko of committing a serious crime due to “political hatred” towards Russia. Her legal team plans to make closing arguments to the court in St. Petersburg on Monday, emphasizing that Skochilenko has already been sufficiently punished for a non-violent protest and should be released. After the closing arguments, Skochilenko will have the opportunity to make a final statement to the court before the verdict is delivered, which may occur later on Monday or in the following days.

According to the Russian-language Mediazona outlet, Skochilenko told the court on November 3rd, “I just wanted to stop the war – that was my motivation. Not hatred, but compassion. I am sure that every person in this room does not want there to be a war. Even you, your honour (the judge), even you, the state prosecutor, you also don’t want people to die prematurely, for young soldiers to lie in the fields, for civilians to die.”

Amnesty International has declared Skochilenko “a prisoner of conscience” – someone who is imprisoned solely because of who they are or what they believe. Copies of the imitation price tags produced by Skochilenko are available on a website maintained by her supporters, displaying messages that accuse the Russian army of bombing a theatre in the port city of Mariupol where around 400 people were hiding, among other allegations.

The Kremlin has claimed that it is Ukraine’s leadership, not Russia’s, that has fascist tendencies and that Moscow was forced to send troops into Ukraine to protect Russian speakers there and stop the creeping expansion of the NATO military alliance, which it says threatened Russia’s national security. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Barbara Lewis)