{"id":625764,"date":"2023-04-05T09:50:12","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/05\/russia-is-persecuting-dissenters-by-taking-away-their-children\/"},"modified":"2023-04-05T09:50:12","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:50:12","slug":"russia-is-persecuting-dissenters-by-taking-away-their-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/05\/russia-is-persecuting-dissenters-by-taking-away-their-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia is persecuting dissenters by taking away their children"},"content":{"rendered":"
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T<\/span>he sentence<\/small> handed down to Alexei Moskalyov on March 28th was outrageous: two years in a prison colony for posting a few anti-war comments on social media<\/a>, which were investigated only after his daughter, Masha, made a pro-Ukrainian drawing in class. But prosecutors had signalled this was the sentence they required, and in Russia\u2019s judicial system they were not going to be disappointed. The surprise was that the defendant was not actually in the room when the sentence was read out. After the verdict, the court press officer loudly explained why: he had fled house arrest overnight. <\/p>\n

The prosecution and conviction herald a new type of Kremlin clampdown<\/a>: separating families as a punishment for anti-war activism. Outside the courtroom, Mr Moskalyov\u2019s lawyer, Vladimir Biliyenko, expressed shock. \u201cNever have I seen a verdict delivered without a defendant,\u201d he said. \u201cAll I can say is I hope he is safe. Where is a secondary concern to me.\u201d A day later, Mr Moskalyov was detained in a safehouse in Minsk, the Belarusian capital. He had apparently been in the process of being smuggled to the West.<\/p>\n

The Moskalyovs\u2019 story began just under a year ago when Masha, 12 at the time, was asked to produce a drawing in support of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. For most of the students at her school in Yefremov, a fossilised town five hours\u2019 drive south of Moscow, it was a straightforward task. But Masha produced a drawing showing her understanding of the truths: a young family, missiles flying, with the captions \u201cNo to war\u201d and \u201cGlory to Ukraine.\u201d Her horrified teacher reported the matter to the headmistress, who apparently passed it on to the police. A day later, both Masha and her father were frogmarched out of the school by men in uniform. \u201cThe other students looked out from the windows, as if we were terrorists,\u201d Mr Moskalyov later told local media. <\/p>\n

A case against Mr Moskalyov was opened when prosecutors discovered his own anti-war posts on social media. He was fined 32,000 roubles ($415) for expressing his anger over reports of Russian soldiers who had raped Ukrainian women. He tried to put a line under the incident by taking his daughter out of school and moving to another town. But just before the new year, security services again raided his home. Mr Moskalyov says they confiscated his family savings (worth about $4,750), beat him, smashed his head against the wall and played the Russian national anthem at high volume. Prosecutors opened a case against him for \u201crepeated discrediting\u201d of the Russian army, which could mean up to three years in jail and separation from his daughter.<\/p>\n