(Saint Petersburg) A Russian court on Thursday sentenced artist Alexandra Skotchilenko to seven years in detention, arrested in Russia in April 2022 for replacing price tags in a supermarket with messages denouncing the offensive in Ukraine.
Judge Oksana Demiacheva sentenced the accused to “seven years in prison,” noted an AFP journalist present at the hearing.
Aged 33, the accused joins dozens of Kremlin critics, renowned or anonymous, thrown in prison for having denounced the assault on Ukraine, an offensive which was followed in Russia by a massive acceleration of repression .
The same day, exiled opposition figure Vladimir Milov, former Deputy Energy Minister, was sentenced to eight years of detention in absentia for accusing the Russian army of crimes in Ukraine.
The judge of the Vasilyostrovsky Court of St. Petersburg found Alexandra Skochilenko guilty of “spreading false information” about the army.
The young woman began to cry, while supporters present at the hearing shouted “Shame!” », “Sacha (short for Alexandra), we are with you! “.
“For a murder, we sometimes take less than for five price tags in a supermarket,” lamented Boris Vishnevski, figure of the small liberal Yabloko party, in the corridors of the court. The artist’s lawyers did not stop in front of the press.
In a statement, Amnesty International denounced “a sham trial”, saying that the Skotchilenko affair “has become synonymous with the absurd and cruel oppression faced by Russians who openly oppose the war”.
“Pacifist”
Before the verdict, Mme Skotchilenko appeared smiling, wearing a colorful t-shirt emblazoned with a big red heart. Around thirty people attended the hearing, including director Alexandre Sokurov.
PHOTO DMITRI LOVETSKY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alexandra Skochilenko
“Everyone in this room wants only one thing: peace! Why fight? “, questioned Alexandra Skotchilenko, combative, Thursday.
“Everyone sees and knows that you are not judging a terrorist. You don’t judge an extremist. You don’t even judge a political activist. You are judging a pacifist,” she said again.
Shortly before, Alexandre Sokurov (“Faust”, “The Russian Ark”) had told AFP that he was supporting “a pure person”.
“I couldn’t not come,” added this classic of Russian and Soviet cinema, aged 72.
Openly homosexual in a country punishing LGBT+ “propaganda” and flouting their rights, according to numerous NGOs, Alexandra Skotchilenko estimated in court on Tuesday that the severity of the sentence requested by the prosecution could be explained by “hatred of minorities” .
Antiwar labels
The artist was punished for protest action dating back to March 2022, a few weeks after the start of the assault on Ukraine.
She had pasted short sentences on the price tags of a supermarket in Saint Petersburg denouncing the conflict, in particular the siege of Mariupol, then in progress, and which left at least 20,000 dead according to Kyiv.
“Putin has been lying to us for 20 years”, we read on one of these messages, or even “The price of this war is the lives of our children. »
His trial opened in December 2022, but it was delayed several times as the prosecution requested more time to gather “evidence” and testimony.
For more than a year and a half, the artist was kept in detention. All requests for house arrest were rejected, because his sister lives in France, which Russian justice considers a risk of flight.
According to her supporters, the young woman suffers from chronic intestinal disease, a congenital heart problem and cannot eat gluten, a diet difficult if not impossible to follow in prison.
Russia has suppressed critical voices for years, but the campaign of repression took on considerable proportions with the attack on Ukraine.
Almost all major opponents have been imprisoned or driven into exile, and thousands of ordinary Russians have been prosecuted and fined or jailed for expressing their disagreement with the Kremlin.