‘I Just Wanted to Stop the War’: Russian Artist Sentenced to 7 Years for Price Tag Protest

A court in St. Petersburg sentenced the 33-year-old artist and musician Alexandra Skochilenko to seven years in prison on charges of spreading “fake news” about the Russian Armed Forces. She replaced six price tags at a supermarket with similar tags that had information about the war, including details about the presence of Russian conscripts in Ukraine — something that President Vladimir Putin denied at the start of the invasion — and facts about civilian deaths in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

“Despite being behind bars, I am freer than you. I can make my own decisions and speak my mind,” Skochilenko said during her last word in court.

“I just wanted to stop the war — that was my motivation. Not hatred, but compassion. I am sure that everyone in the [court] room does not want there to be a war,” Skochilenko said during a court hearing this month.

“I am deeply convinced that life is a great miracle,” she said.