Russia: Artist who used price tags for anti-war messages awaits court verdict

A Russian artist who used and even replaced supermarket tags with messages against Russia's Ukraine invasion is awaiting the verdict of the court in a case against her. The verdict is expected to come on Thursday (November 16). The state prosecutor has asked for an eight-year jail sentence for her.

The case against Alexandra Skochilenko (33) is being viewed as part of a crackdown on dissent against Russia's "special military operation' in Ukraine. The crackdown has led to almost 20,000 people being detained and more than 800 criminal cases.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year. Russia has since then made its laws stricter in an attempt to silence critics of war. Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen to project the Ukraine war as an existential struggle with the West.

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Skochilenko, who is an artist and a musician also known as Sasha, had admitted that she replaced price tags in a supermarket in St Petersburg on March 31, 2022, with pieces of paper urging an end to the war. She has already spent more than a year and a half in prison. She denies the formal charge against her that she knowingly spread false information about the Russian army.

The state prosecutor has asked the court to send Skochilenko to jail for eight years and also impose a three-year ban on using the internet. He has called her act a serious crime which has been committed out of hatred for Russia.

Skochilenko's lawyers have said that she has only acted as per her conscience and has committed no crime. They've also said that she would not survive jail because of a health issue she is suffering from already.

On Thursday, it is expected that Skochilenko will make a final statement in the St Petersburg court post which, the court will deliver a verdict on the same day.

Human rights group Amnesty International has declared that Skochilenko is "a prisoner of conscience" which means someone who is in jail just because of who they are or what they believe.

Yana Nepopvinnova, one of Skochilenko's lawyers, told the court on Monday that she should be acquitted.

"You should never punish people for thinking and feeling differently. You should never punish people for objective criticism of the authorities and their decisions," she said.

(With inputs from agencies)