Two years in prison for a painting. This is the sentence given to 54-year-old Alexei Moskalev by the Efremov district court in Russia. That’s because of a pacifist drawing of her 12-year-old daughter Masha, shown by two women dressed in Russian and Ukrainian flags shaking hands during an art class in April 2022. The complaint was promptly initiated by the teacher, who asked the children to show solidarity with the soldiers involved in the occupation. Since then, the two family members have been caught in a whirlwind of arrests, interrogations and violence.
The story of the two family members was told by Vladimir Bilienko, Alexei’s lawyer and activist of the Ovd-Info NGO, an independent project protecting human rights in Russia. After the investigation into his daughter’s drawing, in December 2022, a criminal case was opened against Alexei, who was accused of criticizing the “special operation in Ukraine” and poorly educating his daughter. The two tried to leave their hometown of Efremov, but Russian forces managed to find them. The father and daughter then separated on March 1: Masha was taken by social services to a “rehabilitation centre”, while Alexei was placed under house arrest until the trial on March 15, when patria podestà was also discussed about her daughter.
As reported by Ovd-Info, the trial took place suddenly, and Alexei was sentenced to two years in prison for criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The court reported that the man is currently on the run and that the sentence was actually given while he was away. Even his lawyer does not know where he is now as he escaped from house arrest independently. “I’m in shock, a prison sentence is a terrible thing for expressing your opinion,” Efremov’s city councilor Olga Podolskaya told the BBC, and wherever Alexei is, he hopes he’s okay.
On the other hand, the drawings of his daughter and a letter written by the lawyer Bilienko to his father only on March 28, were not heard after almost a month. The little girl would write “Daddy, you are my hero” in the letter.
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.
