Russian artist receives 7 years imprisonment for anti-war price tags

A person in Russia who is against the ongoing war has been given seven years in jail for putting stickers with anti-war messages on store prices.

Sasha Skochilenko, who is 33 years old, is an artist from St. He has been in jail since April of last year.

She said she started doing activism soon after the war started.

Her lawyers asked for her to be found not guilty because they said her long-term sicknesses mean she could die in jail.

A few weeks after Russia attacked Ukraine, Ms Skochilenko protested by putting anti-war messages on supermarket labels in St Petersburg. She did this with a group of feminists.

The new labels say: “Russian soldiers have wrecked 80% of Mariupol. ” End the fighting.

Sasha Skochilenko put anti-war messages on fake price labels and gave them out.

Sasha Skochilenko changed price labels to show messages against war a few weeks after Russia attacked Ukraine.

In her final words, the artist sounded strong and confident, and questioned the court about the prosecutor’s lack of faith in our state and society. She asked how five small pieces of paper could ruin our state and public security.

“She said I can admit that I was wrong or that I was influenced by others. ” “I will stick to what I believe in and what I know is true. ”

Skochilenko was found guilty of “making the Russian army look bad” under strict laws made after the invasion.

The law makes it illegal to protest against war.

The trial went on for a year and a half because it was one of the first cases to be judged under the new laws.

“We need to find evidence,” said her lawyer Yana Nepovinnova.

Anna, Sasha Skochilenko’s sister, said to the BBC that her sister represents everything that the Russian authorities dislike.

“Anna Skochilenko says she is creative, delicate, homosexual, and has a Ukrainian last name. ”

She was really scared that her sister’s ongoing health problems might cause her to die in jail. Skochilenko has been told she has a disease called coeliac disease. She also has a problem with her heart that makes it stop beating for a few seconds.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been very harsh on people who disagree with him inside the country at the same time as attacking Ukraine with full force. The same laws used to punish Ms Skochilenko have been used to go after many people who criticized the leader’s rule.

Last month, a journalist named Marina Ovsyannikova spoke out against the war in Ukraine on TV and was sentenced to 8. 5 years in prison even though she wasn’t there.