Aleksandra (Sasha) Skochilenko is an artist from St. Petersburg, Russia, arrested for protesting the invasion of Ukraine.
On 31 March 2022, she replaced price tags at a local supermarket with little paper labels that contained information censored by Russian state-run media.
On 11 April, she was arrested and charged with “dissemination of knowingly false information about Russian Armed Forces”.
Aleksandra has been held in detention ever since, in terrible conditions. She has coeliac disease and has been forced to go hungry most of the time because the detention centre has not given her the gluten-free food she needs. Aleksandra has also been harassed by detention centre employees and her cellmates.
If convicted, she faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment. We want Aleksandra to be released from unfair detention as soon as possible and all charges against her dropped.
We know that the international community raising the profile of, and highlighting the unfairness of, Aleksandra’s case is working. There have already been some improvements in her conditions in detention because of the pressure activists are putting on the authorities.
We must keep up this pressure. Public attention to the case could guarantee her safety while in prison, ensure better conditions of detention and help guarantee her right to a fair trial.