A 20-year-old girl in Russia has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for posting on social media against the war in Ukraine. Student Olesya Krivtsova was arrested last October for sharing an Instagram story about the explosion on the bridge connecting Russia to the now annexed Crimea by the federation. The post, in which the girl reflected how happy the Ukrainians were, cost her 10 years in prison, placed under house arrest, and wearing an electronic tag on her leg so that the police could track her every day. movement. movement.
“I was on the phone with my mother,” Krivtsova told the BBC, “a lot of police came in. They took my phone from me and shouted at me to lie down.” The accusation against him? Justify terrorism and discredit the Russian military. After the indictments, he was immediately added to Russia’s official list of terrorists and extremists. It’s insane for the girl who doesn’t understand how her name goes next to the names of those responsible for the attacks in schools and the Islamic State organization.
According to the young woman’s stories, the accusations must have come from the same classmates and started in a WhatsApp conversation. “A friend of mine showed me a post about me in a chat,” he told British television, “most of the attendees were history students. They were debating whether to report me to the authorities.”
The accusations made by his colleagues concerned “provocative posts of a defeatist and extremist nature”. “We’re trying to discredit him first,” they said within the group. If he fails, we let the security forces handle it. What seems to be the common opinion of young men is that it is a patriotic duty to report; A thought that seems to be a reference to Putin’s initial calls (several weeks after the invasion) to separate “true patriots from scumbags and traitors”. Since then, there has been an increase in charges against critics of the war across the country.
Public criticism of the occupation, including republishing criticism of others, is extremely dangerous for the Kremlin. It is also for this reason that Russia decided to pass repressive laws to punish dissent; special legislation comes to the fore, prohibiting “false information” and anything aimed at “discrediting” the military.
So what is the future of the young girl now? After attending the court hearing (Krivtsova was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a police van that provocatively read “School Bus”), the judge decided to keep her under house arrest. Perhaps because of the girl’s tacit comment on how young Russians are punished for criticizing the authorities. “They can’t put everybody in jail. At some point their cells will run out,” Krivtsova said contemptuously.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
