Russian authorities are seeking an eight-year prison term for an artist and musician who was jailed after protesting the war in Ukraine. Sasha Skochilenko was arrested in her native St.
FILE - Sasha Skochilenko, a 33-year-old artist and musician, walks escorted by officers to the court room for a hearing in the Vasileostrovsky district court in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Oct. 19, 2023. Skochilenko was arrested in April 2022 on the charges of spreading false information about the army after replacing supermarket price tags with ones decrying what the Kremlin insists on calling a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Her arrest took place about a month after authorities adopted a law effectively criminalizing any public expression about the war in Ukraine that deviates from the Kremlin’s official line. The legislation has been used in a widespread crackdown on opposition politicians, human rights activists and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin, with many receiving lengthy prison terms.
Almost daily court hearings in recent months put additional pressure on Skochilenko — the tight schedule often prevented her from getting meals. At one point, the judge called an ambulance to the courthouse after she fell ill, telling the court it was her second straight day without any food. At another hearing, she burst into tears after the judge rejected a request for a break so that she could eat or at least use the bathroom.
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