Court in St. Petersburg. Russiasentenced this Thursday to seven years in prison for Alexandra SkochilenkoThe 33-year-old artist, after being accused of spreading false information about the army, when replaced prices for several products in the supermarket To messages against Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Skochilenko was also sentenced to three years inability to carry out activities related to social networksor manage web pages.

The artist’s arrest took place in April 2022just two months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

Accusation asked for eight years in prisonThis was reported on November 8 by sources close to the case. For its part, the defense asked to acquit the accused, arguing that staying in prison could endanger his life due to the chronic diseases from which he suffers.

Just a few weeks after the invasion began, Skochilenko, on behalf of a feminist collective, changed the labels on some products in a supermarket on Vasilyevsky Island. New labels showed death toll at that time in Ukrainein addition to calls for peace.

The young artist admitted the charges arising from legislation that had become increasingly restrictive since the beginning of the war and which criminalizes any kind of activism Against her.

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Some labels read phrases: “Russian troops destroyed 80% of Mariupol, for what?”, “People I know are hiding from Russian bombs in the subway. None of them are Nazis. Stop the war” and even “Putin deceived us on television for 20 years, now he is preparing to justify a useless war”This was reported by the British news network. BBC.

In his closing statement, Skochilenko mocked the entire trial, which lasted more than a year, and questioned how “little faith” prosecutors have in the Russian state and its society if they believe that Public safety ‘could be destroyed with just five little pieces of paper’.

(Europe Press)