A member of Russia's presidential Council for Human Rights says the incarceration of Russian artist Aleksandra Skochilenko for using price tags in a supermarket to distribute anti-war messages could be "deadly dangerous" to the 33-year-old.
Yeva Merkachyova said conditions in the prison where Skochilenko is expected to serve her seven-year sentence will be "much more serious" for Skochilenko, who has several medical conditions, including a congenital heart defect, bipolar disorder, intolerance to gluten, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Merkachyova said people with conditions such as gluten intolerance face problems with food in Russia's prisons, which have a single canteen for everyone.
“I believe that, in general, her stay in prison is mortally dangerous for her. I’m not even talking about the 'etap' -- the period when a person is transferred, which can definitely last more than one day. It can last for weeks," Merkachyova was quoted by RIA Novosti on November 19 as saying.
The so-called etap is a process that involves trains with caged compartments specifically designed for prisoners, who are provided with little fresh air, no showers, and only limited access to food or a toilet.
The transfers can take days, weeks, or even months as the trains stop and convicts spend time in transit prisons. Convicts almost always face humiliation, beatings, and sometimes even death at the hands of their guards.
Another member of the Council for Human Rights, Aleksandr Brod, was also quoted by RIA Novosti on November 19 as saying that he had asked Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova to secure proper food for Skochilenko in custody.
A day earlier, more than 100 Russian doctors signed an open letter to President Vladimir Putin calling for Skochilenko's release, stressing that her actions did not violate Russian law.
SEE ALSO: Russian Doctors Urge Putin To Release Woman Imprisoned For Price Tag Anti-War ProtestA court in St. Petersburg on November 16 sentenced Skochilenko to prison after finding her guilty of "distributing false information about the Russian armed forces," under Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code, which was railroaded through parliament and signed by Putin in a single day last year.
Skochilenko was arrested in April 2022 after she replaced five price tags in a supermarket with pieces of paper containing what investigators called "knowingly false information about the use of the Russian armed forces."
In her final testimony hours before the verdict and sentence were handed down, Skochilenko reiterated that her actions in the supermarket were meant to promote peace.