Russia seeks an 8-year prison term for an artist and musician who protested the war in Ukraine

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Key Points

Tallinn, November 8. Russian authorities on Wednesday demanded an eight-year prison term for an artist and musician who was jailed after speaking out against Moscow's war in Ukraine...

Sasha Skochilenko was arrested in her native St. Petersburg in April 2022, on charges of spreading false information about the military after replacing supermarket price tags with antiwar slogans decrying the invasion...

Her arrest took place about a month after authorities adopted a law effectively criminalising any public expression about the war in Ukraine that deviates from the Kremlin's official line...

According to OVD-Info, another prominent rights group that monitors political arrests and provides legal aid, a total of 19,834 Russians have been arrested between Feb. 24, when the war began, and late October 2023 for speaking out or demonstrating against the war...

Nearly 750 people have faced criminal charges for their antiwar stances, and over 8,100 faced petty charges of discrediting the army, punishable by a fine or a short stint in jail...

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