Russia: activist who replaced supermarket price tags with anti-war messages jailed
Artist and musician Aleksandra Skochilenko sentenced to seven years in prison following sham trial under repressive article of criminal code
Skochilenko is second person in Russia to be prosecuted for price-tag activism
‘Her persecution has become synonymous with the absurdly cruel oppression faced by Russians openly opposing their country’s criminal war’ - Marie Struthers
Responding to news that Russian anti-war activist Aleksandra Skochilenko has been convicted of “disseminating knowingly false information about the Russian armed forces” and sentenced to seven years in prison for replacing price tags with anti-war messages in a Saint Petersburg supermarket, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:
“This manifestly unjust verdict concludes a case in which the only crimes committed are those that have gone unpunished.
“One is against Aleksandra Skochilenko herself, who, having been arbitrarily deprived of her freedom and held in torturous conditions for 19 months, now faces the prospect of seven years in a penal colony. The other is Russian aggression against the people of Ukraine, which Aleksandra was simply trying to expose.
“Her persecution has become synonymous with the absurdly cruel oppression faced by Russians openly opposing their country’s criminal war.
“The immediate and unconditional release of Aleksandra Skochilenko and all activists jailed solely for engaging in peaceful anti-war dissent is imperative.”
Artist and musician
Artist and musician Aleksandra Skochilenko was charged under the highly-repressive article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code for replacing price tags with messages about war crimes committed by Russian troops in the city of Mariupol in Ukraine. She was taken into pretrial detention on 11 April 2022 and has remained in custody ever since, where her health has deteriorated sharply. A sufferer of celiac disease, she had no access to adequate food prescribed for health reasons and was repeatedly denied visits to doctors for at least two weeks following her arrest. During her trial, the presiding judge denied her breaks for food and visits to the toilet. Amnesty considers Skochilenko to be a prisoner of conscience.
Skochilenko is the second anti-war activist to face criminal charges for replacing price tags with anti-war messages. In October 2022, after spending six months under house arrest, Vladimir Zavyalov from Smolensk in Central Russia managed to flee the country on the eve of a verdict in his trial for this “offence”. The prosecutor asked the court to impose a six-year prison sentence.
Since the passing of Article 207.3, more than 750 people have faced criminal charges in Russia, and their number is growing. The number of those punished for the administrative “offence” of “discrediting the armed forces” now stands at more than 8,000.