Young woman jailed for 7 years for swapping price tags at supermarket
A Russian court has convicted an artist to seven years in jail for swapping supermarket price tags with antiwar messages.
Sasha Skochilenko, 33, was arrested in St Petersburg and charged with spreading misinformation about the military when she replaced price tags with ones against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"The Russian army bombed an arts schools in Mariupol. Some 400 people were hiding in it from the shelling," one read.
"Russian conscripts are being sent to Ukraine. Lives of our children are the price of this war," the other said.
Her arrest is part of the latest crackdown on free speech, and she was arrested after a customer at the supermarket found the slogans and reported her to authorities.
Skochilenko's arrest comes one month after authorities adopted a law that criminalises any public expression about the war that deviates from the official Kremlin line.
The legislation is used to crackdown on opposition politicians, human rights activists and ordinary citizens that are critical of the Kremlin.
The 33-year-old has not denied replacing the price tags but has rejected the accusation of knowingly spreading false information.
She also claimed that she didn't want to criticise the military but wanted to stop the fighting.
"She is a very empathetic, peace-loving person. To her, in general, the word 'war' is the most terrible thing imaginable, as is the suffering of people," her lawyer Yana Nepovinnova told The Associated Press last week.
"She is a very empathetic, peace-loving person. To her, in general, the word 'war' is the most terrible thing imaginable, as is the suffering of people," Nepovinnova added.
According to the Russian independent news site Mediazona, Skochilenko said that the case against her was "weird and ridiculous" in her final statement in court and that even the officials where she was detained at "open their eyes widely and exclaim: 'Is this really what people are being imprisoned for now?'"
While addressing the judge in a courtroom full of supporters, Skochilenko also reportedly said that: "Everyone sees and knows that it's not a terrorist you're trying. You're not trying an extremist. You're not trying a political activist, either. You're trying a pacifist."
Mediazona also reported that her supporters applauded her and chanted her name when she was led away after the verdict.
Nearly 750 people have face criminal charges for their antiwar stances, and over 8100 had petty charges for discrediting the army, which is punishable by a fine or short time in jail.
Images: BBC News