in Russia, the situation of the father condemned for the anti-war drawing of his daughter worries his supporters

Aleksei Moskaliov is still invisible. A new court hearing in Efremov, the town where the family is from, was held on Thursday April 6, but he did not show up. Is he still in Belarus awaiting extradition? Or has he already been repatriated and kept incommunicado somewhere in Russia? No one knows, not even his lawyers.

>> War in Ukraine: we tell you the story of this Russian father separated from his daughter for a drawing against the conflict

His situation in any case worries his supporters, and arouses a certain emotion in this city located 300 kilometers south of Moscow, where we have been following this affair since its beginning a year ago. How little by little the power withdrew custody of his daughter from this father, until he was sentenced to two years in prison and caused his escape just after his conviction at the end of March. Olga Podolskaia is an independent local MP, who openly supports Aleksei Moskaliov against the authorities, and she says she is not alone. “When I walk down the street, people stop me to tell me that they are afraid to speak publicly but support me in their kitchen”she says.

“Everyone thinks the punishment is too severe.”

Olga Podolskaia, independent local MP

at franceinfo

“To destroy a family because of an opinion is not human”, resumes Olga Podolskaia. During this new hearing, there was indeed a small support committee at the Efremov court, admittedly modest, around thirty people, but this is very unusual in a Russia that has been completely muzzled since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Natalia, a literary translator, made the long, almost seven-hour train journey from Moscow to come and express her support: “There are a lot of problems in this city, which you can only smell. Huge ecological problems, destroyed cultural monuments, and the authorities do not see the problem. Their only problem is a little girl who drew a picture. And now the real problem is where she is.”

The Macha Moskalova case that has become a political example

Because little Macha is also nowhere to be found. None of her relatives have seen her since March 1 and her placement in a home, even her father’s lawyer could not see her. The only news comes from a letter where she wrote that her father is a hero for her. But, on Wednesday April 5, the Russian Commissioner for the Rights of the Child, Maria Lvova-Belova – a very close friend of Vladimir Putin, prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for child abduction in Ukraine – published photos of the little girl in company of her mother, who hadn’t taken care of her for years.

Photos that leave the father’s lawyer, Vladimir Bilenko, skeptical: “As far as I know, Masha was entrusted to her mother, all of a sudden, whereas previously Maria Lvova-Belova said that the mother is not a good woman. And within a few days she becomes a good woman! That’s why you should go directly to Maria Lvova-Belova, because there is something coming from above.” For the supporters of the family, the Masha Moskalova case has become political: the Russian authorities seem determined to make an example of it.