Russian authorities announced that a Russian, separated from his 13-year-old daughter, who was placed because of a drawing in the school against the attack in Ukraine, was sentenced on Tuesday, March 28 to two years in prison and fled.
This case sparked intense indignation for several weeks in Russia, becoming one of the symbols of the harsh repression against those who oppose the military operation launched by the Kremlin in Ukraine more than a year ago.
sequel after announcement
Moscow newspaper: “Because of an anti-war drawing drawn by 13-year-old Masha, her family was condemned”
But the matter took a new turn on Tuesday when the court in Efremov, 300 km south of Moscow, declared the defendant Alexei Moskalyov, who had been under house arrest since March, missing. “The verdict was read in the absence of the accused because he disappeared and did not attend the session.”The court’s communications chief, Elena Mikhaylovska, told AFP.
“He ran away last night.”
Not long ago, the court found Alexei Moskalyov, 54, guilty “discredited” The Russian armed forces sentenced him to two years in prison, which was the sentence requested by the public prosecutor the day before. Alexey Moskalyov has been under house arrest since March 1.
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According to an official in the court’s press office: “He ran away last night.”, simply to journalists Olga Dyachuk, according to a video broadcast by many Russian media. Asked by AFP, his lawyer, Vladimir Belenko, said he last saw him on Monday.
The case began when Alexei Moskalyov’s daughter, 13-year-old schoolgirl Maria Moskaliova, drew a picture in class showing missiles heading towards a woman and child carrying the Ukrainian flag. In the course of an all-out hunt for voices critical of the attack in Ukraine, the headmistress of the school immediately alerted the police.
sequel after announcement
house arrest
When investigating the father, the authorities said they found posts on the Internet critical of the operation in Ukraine, which led to his indictment “I lost the army’s credibility” Russian.
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Alexey Moskalyov was placed under house arrest on 1 March and his daughter was placed in a home and denied any contact with her father. The future of the family will also be decided during another trial, starting on April 6, during which Alexei Moskalyov risks definitively depriving him of his parental power.
Her lawyer told AFP on Tuesday that Maria Moskalyueva has been placed under guardianship and could be so “Sent to an orphanage within a month.”.
Support from the head of Wagner
As a sign of the indignation this case aroused, a petition was launched on the Internet, despite pressure from the authorities, to demand that the child be returned to his father. Even the head of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose men are fighting on the front lines in Ukraine, gave Maria his support and criticized the local authorities.
This case shows the scale of the Kremlin-orchestrated repression in parallel with the conflict in Ukraine. Shortly after beginning its offensive that began in February 2022, Russia imposed a series of criminal sanctions to suppress any form of criticism of the military. Famous dissidents and ordinary citizens have been arrested, some of whom have already been tried and found guilty.
