TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — 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 criminalizing any public expression about the war in Ukraine that deviates from the Kremlin’s official line. The legislation has been used in a widespread crackdown on opposition politicians, human rights activists and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin, with many receiving lengthy prison terms.
Skochilenko is on trial, and the prosecution delivered closing arguments Wednesday, asking the court to convict her and sentence her to eight years in prison. Independent Russian news site Mediazona cited Skochilenko as saying that she was “in shock” over the severity of the sentence being sought.
The 33-year-old has been held in pre-trial…
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