Press Release, 20.01.2023

Photo: Alexandra Skochilenko at the trial with lawyers / Photo by Boris Vishnevsky

The criminal case of the St. Petersburg artist Alexandra Skochilenko, who is accused of spreading “fake news” about the army, must be closed, and she should be acquitted. This was stated by the Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, Boris Vishnevsky, who came to the court to support Skochilenko on Friday, 20 January.

“If the court were fair and impartial, the case would have ended long ago in full acquittal, or rather, termination of the case due to lack of corpus delicti. But given that we are dealing with modern Russian justice, I have no illusions about this. There were no grounds for sending Alexandra to a pre-trial detention centre. She does not pose any public danger, cannot put pressure on witnesses and is not going to hide. Definitely it was possible to confine to house arrest for the time of consideration of the case,” Vishnevsky said.

Vishnevsky noted that he did not see any signs of not only a criminal, but also an administrative offense in the actions of Skochilenko. This is political persecution. The goal is very simple – to intimidate everyone, he said.

Skochilenko was arrested after she replaced the price tags in the Perekrestok store with anti-war signs on 31 March, 2022. The court considered this “spreading false information about the Russian army,” but the girl believes that in this way she wanted to convey information about the events in Mariupol to more people. She is charged under the article on the dissemination of false information about Russian troops (Article 207.3 Part 2 of the Criminal Code). The artist faces from five to ten years in prison.

At a meeting on 20 January, the defence asked to replace Skochilenko’s remand in the pre-trial detention centre by home arrest. She has health problems, she suffers from gluten intolerance. However, the court did not accept the motion. The trial goes on.