Current:Home > StocksRussian doctors call for release of imprisoned artist who protested Ukraine war-InfoLens
Russian doctors call for release of imprisoned artist who protested Ukraine war
View Date:2024-12-23 11:51:17
LONDON (AP) — More than 100 Russian doctors signed an open letter published Saturday that demands the immediate release of an artist and musician who was sentenced to seven years in prison for swapping supermarket price tags with antiwar messages.
The letter calling for Sasha Skochilenko to be freed was addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and warned that time in prison could lead to a “significant deterioration” in the 33-year-old artist’s health.
Skochilenko was “diagnosed with a number of severe chronic diseases that require proper medical supervision and a special diet,” states the letter, which goes on to note the doctors’ indignation at the “obvious injustice of the verdict.”
A Russian court sentenced Skochilenko on Thursday. She was arrested in her native St. Petersburg in April 2022 and charged with spreading false information about the military with her messages opposing the war in Ukraine.
“The Russian army bombed an arts school in Mariupol. Some 400 people were hiding in it from the shelling,” one replaced price tag read. Another said, “Russian conscripts are being sent to Ukraine. Lives of our children are the price of this war.”
A customer at the supermarket who found the slogans reported them to authorities. Skochilenko did not deny but rejected the accusation of spreading knowingly false information.
Skochilenko’s arrest came about a month after authorities adopted a law effectively criminalizing any public expression about the war that deviates from the official Kremlin line. The legislation has been used in a widespread crackdown on opposition politicians, human rights activists and ordinary citizens critical of the Kremlin, with many receiving lengthy prison terms.
Because Skochilenko was in custody for nearly 19 months before her trial, her seven-year sentence will be reduced by more than two years since every day served in a pre-trial detention center counts as 1.5 days of time served in a regular penal colony.
But she has struggled while in custody due to health problems that include a congenital heart defect, bipolar disorder and celiac disease, her lawyers and partner have said.
Russia’s most prominent human rights group, Memorial, a co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, has declared Skochilenko a political prisoner.
According to OVD-Info, a rights group that monitors political arrests and provides legal aid, a total of 19,834 Russians were arrested between Feb. 24 2022, when the war in Ukraine began, and late October of this year for speaking out or demonstrating against the war.
veryGood! (53483)
Related
- My Chemical Romance returns with ‘The Black Parade’ tour
- Taylor Swift Meets With Families Affected by Stabbing Attack at Event in England
- Taylor Swift finally sings long awaited 'Reputation' track
- Semi-truck catches fire, shuts down California interstate for 16 hours
- Kraft Heinz stops serving school-designed Lunchables because of low demand
- Hunter in Alaska recovering after being mauled by bear and shot amid effort to fend it off
- The Latest: Preparations underway for night 1 of the DNC in Chicago
- PHOTO COLLECTION: Election 2024 JD Vance
- The Cowboys, claiming to be 'all in' prior to Dak Prescott's injury, are in a rare spot: Irrelevance
- Joe Jonas Shares Glimpse Into His Crappy 35th Birthday Celebration
Ranking
- Burger King's 'Million Dollar Whopper' finalists: How to try and vote on your favorite
- Khadijah Haqq's Ex Bobby McCray Files for Divorce One Year She Announces Breakup
- Public defender’s offices are opening across Maine. The next step: staffing them.
- The Daily Money: Real estate rules are changing. What does it mean for buyers, sellers?
- Suspect arrested after deadly Tuskegee University homecoming shooting
- Former NFL player accused of urinating on passenger during Boston to Dublin flight
- Paul Mescal Seemingly Confirms Romance With Gracie Abrams During London Outings
- 2 dead, at least 100 evacuated after flooding sweeps through Connecticut
Recommendation
-
Taylor Swift drops Christmas merchandise collection, including for 'Tortured Poets' era
-
Ruff and tumble: Great Pyrenees wins Minnesota town's mayoral race in crowded field
-
What do grocery ‘best by’ labels really mean?
-
George Santos due in court, expected to plead guilty in fraud case, AP source says
-
Diamond Sports Group can emerge out of bankruptcy after having reorganization plan approved
-
Who is Mike Lynch? A look at the British tech tycoon missing from a sunken yacht in Sicily
-
Arizona judge to announce winner of Democratic primary recount for US House race
-
Harvey Weinstein will not return to California until New York retrial is complete, DA says