A hairstylist from Saint Petersburg received a prison sentence of five years and two months for disseminating false information regarding the Russian military.
Anna Alexandrova refuted sharing eight anti-war posts on social media, maintaining that the case stemmed from a dispute over property with a neighbor.
His neighbor informed the WARNEWS that she had approached prosecutors following Alexandrova’s action of sending her daughter images related to the conflict in Ukraine.
In late February 2022, shortly after initiating a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia enacted laws making it illegal to disparage the armed forces or deliberately disseminate false information regarding the military.
Since the start of the conflict, the Kremlin has escalated efforts to suppress opposition, leading to the arrest of numerous foes and detractors as well as restricting the operations of independent news outlets.
On Tuesday, another incident saw four reporters sentenced to five and a half years in prison in Moscow following their conviction for operating as part of an “extremist organization.”
Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, and Artem Kriger all maintained they were merely performing their duties as reporters. However, the court determined that their contributions had been utilized by an anticorruption organization established by Vladimir Putin’s primary adversary, Alexei Navalny.
Last year, Navalny was discovered deceased at a correctional facility located near the Arctic Circle. The final sighting of him alive occurred through a courtroom video feed provided by Favorskaya the day preceding his contentious demise.
Favorskaya was employed by the independent platform SotaVision and was ultimately detained in March 2024 while shooting at a graveyard where he later found himself interred.
Russia’s stringent regulations against disagreement have trapped individuals from various backgrounds.
Denunciations have led to prison terms and Russians have informed on their colleagues and other people they know, in actions reminiscent of the Soviet era when a boy called Pavlik Morozov was lionised for betraying his own father.
The hairdresser Anna Alexandrova, a 47-year-old mother of two, was initially detained in November 2023 due to eight postings she made through two pseudonymous profiles on the Russian platform VKontakte.
WhenWARNEWS Russia editor Steve Rosenberg went to the courthouse last September, Alexandrova’s attorney informed him that the case initially began as a typical dispute over property between family members.
“Initially, one party reported the issue to the police without success. The situation only evolved when accusations of spreading ‘false information regarding the military’ emerged,” stated Anastasia Pilipenko.
Steve Rosenberg:
How cases of informing bring back spirits from the Soviet era
It turned out that Anna Alexandrova was originally on the same side as her neighbor in their joint effort against local deforestation initiated by developers in the village of Korpikyulya, located south of St. Petersburg.
However, they ultimately drifted apart due to conflicts that grew more bitter over time.
Even though Alexandrova refuted sharing wartime images with her neighbor, the court sentenced her to serve time in a penal colony and prohibited her from posting additional content for the subsequent three years.
In the meantime, attorneys representing a Moscow city councilor who received the initial complete prison sentence in July 2022 under the “fake news” legislation have submitted an appeal against this charge to Russia’s Constitutional Court.
Alexei Gorinov was originally sentenced to seven years in prison after footage surfaced of him condemning Russia’s invasion during a council meeting. He voiced opposition to organizing a children’s art competition while children were perishing in Ukraine.
The opening statement was prolonged for an additional three years last year after he faced accusations of disparaging the war while being treated in a prison infirmary.
On Tuesday, attorneys Katerina Tertukhina and Olga Podoplelova released a statement asserting that the 2022 provision targeting misinformation was not aligned with constitutionally valid objectives.
“Under the guise of protecting public order, it is used to punish anti-war views, criticism of authorities, and the dissemination of information—including truthful information—if it contradicts the official narrative,” the lawyers argued.
- Moscow Politician Receives 7-Year Sentence for Opposing War
