Aleksandra Yuryevna Skochilenko (; born 13 September 1990), also known as Sasha Skochilenko, is a Russian artist, musician, poet, and former political prisoner. Skochilenko was detained in April 2022 for distributing anti-war messages in Saint Petersburg.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

declared Skochilenko a prisoner of conscience, the

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

human rights organization recognized her as a political prisoner, and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

included her on its '' 100 Women'' in 2022. In November 2023, Skochilenko was sentenced to seven years in prison under Russia's "fake news" law. She was released in Ankara on 1 August 2024 as part of a complex international exchange of prisoners. Analyzing the event for CNN, Nathan Hodge wrote that Skochilenko's experience "laid bare the absurdity of Russia’s draconian wartime media laws".

Biography

Aleksandra Skochilenko was born in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

, Soviet Union (now

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia). She attended the Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,

Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

. She is the author of ''Book About Depression'' (2014), which helped destigmatise

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

issues in Russia. She is an open lesbian and her partner participated in publicizing her criminal case and the conditions of her detention.

Protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Activism and arrest

Skochilenko joined several protests against the 2022

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. At a protest on 3 March 2022 in the centre of Saint Petersburg, she was arrested and detained overnight. She was fined 10,000 rubles. On 11 April 2022, Skochilenko was arrested for "putting fragments of paper in place of price tags, containing information about the use of the Russian armed forces" in a Perekrestok supermarket on 31 March. The messages attributed to her included information about the Mariupol theatre airstrike on 16 March: "The Russian army bombed an art school in Mariupol where about 400 people were hiding from the shelling." Skochilenko was accused of being motivated by "political hatred for Russia" and jailed for eight weeks pending trial. She was charged under Article 207.3 part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the recently introduced Russian wartime censorship laws. She faced a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment. In a letter from jail in April 2022, Skochilenko wrote: "It just so happened that I represent everything that the Putin regime is so intolerant of: creativity, pacifism, LGBT, psycho-enlightenment, feminism, humanism, and love for everything bright, ambiguous, unusual." On 30 May, the Saint Petersburg District Court extended her pre-trial detention until July in a closed hearing. In early June, she was temporarily transferred to a psychiatric hospital, where staff refused to treat her for abdominal pain and refused to share information about her condition with her lawyer and partner. On 30 June, the Russian

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

Centre for Combating Extremism The Centre for Combating Extremism (), also known as Centre E () is a unit within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The unit was established by decree No. 1316 of the President of the Russian Federation on 16 September 2 ...

issued a report alleging that Skochilenko was a member of the Eighth Initiative Group, which it described as a "radical protest feminist group". Skochilenko denied knowledge of the group. Following those claims, the court extended her pre-trial detention until September. Human rights groups raised concerns about the conditions of her detention, as she suffers from a

congenital heart defect A congenital heart defect (CHD), also known as a congenital heart anomaly, congenital cardiovascular malformation, and congenital heart disease, is a defect in the structure of the heart or great vessels that is present at birth. A congenital h ...

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

, and

coeliac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine. Patients develop intolerance to gluten, which is present in foods such as wheat, rye, spelt ...

, the last of which requires a

gluten-free diet A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of prolamin proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats ...

that she was not being provided, resulting in significant weight loss. Her partner was also denied permission to visit her while in detention. In a July interview with

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

, Skochilenko raised additional concerns about possible mistreatment, saying that she and the other prisoners in her cell had been forced to clean the cell three times a day by hand and the television in the cell was restricted to war films and pro-government news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 7 July 2023, she was ordered to remain in pretrial detention until 10 October.

Verdict

On 16 November 2023, she was sentenced in a Saint Petersburg court to seven years imprisonment for replacing supermarket price tags with antiwar slogans in 2022. In her statement to the court before the verdict was announced, she told the presiding judge: "Your honour, you have a unique opportunity to show an example to society with your verdict ... You can show how to resolve conflict with the help of words and compassion."

Recognition and support

In June 2022,

designated Skochilenko a

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

and

declared her a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

. She was named as one of the

's '' 100 Women'' in 2022. From 31 March to 29 April 2023, The Koppel Project in London hosted an exhibition titled "SKOCHILENKO: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM". Curated by the

Russian Democratic Society Russian Democratic Society (, sr-cyrl, Руско демократско друштво, Rusko demokratsko društvo) is an Anti-war movement, anti-war Russian diaspora organization in Serbia. It represents the Russians in Serbia, Russian citizen ...

, this event showcased her works, known for their poignant and thought-provoking pieces that delve into themes of freedom, expression, and political activism. Her activism and imprisonment were featured in two

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

" Frontline" television documentaries: ''Putin’s War at Home'' (2022) and ''Sasha & Sonia: A Russian Love Story'' (2023).

Release

Skochilenko's mother, Nadezhda Skochilenko, feared authorities would impose additional charges against her daughter when, in July 2024, some political prisoners were moved to new locations. She had one day's notice that she would be released. Skochilenko later reported being taken from her Saint Petersburg cell, moved without explanation, and threatened with death for asking what was happening. She said: "It felt like we were being taken out to be shot." On 1 August 2024, Skochilenko was released in Ankara as part of the

2024 Ankaran prisoner exchange 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

. Skochilenko's partner, Sonia Subbotina, confirmed that Skochilenko was preparing to travel from Ankara to Cologne with most of the other released Russians. She arrived that night in Cologne and was held in a quarantine hospital. Her mother said: "She is continuing to believe that miracles are possible. She has shown that if you are kind and pro-peace then good things can happen."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skochilenko, Aleksandra 1990 births Living people 21st-century Russian painters 21st-century Russian women musicians Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Russia Lesbian painters Painters from Saint Petersburg Political prisoners according to Memorial Russian activists against the Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian dissidents Russian feminists Russian lesbian artists Russian LGBTQ painters Russian pacifists Russian political prisoners Russian women activists Saint Petersburg State University alumni 21st-century Russian women painters