A 19-year-old girl was sentenced to almost three years in a correctional colony by a St. Petersburg court on April 18 after she was charged with frequently “discrediting” the Russian army, including by affixing a quote to a statue of a Ukrainian poet.
In a statement released Friday, the Joint Press Service of Courts in St. Petersburg said that Darya Kozyreva had been sentenced to two years and eight months. As reported by OVD-Info, a nonpartisan human rights group in Russia, Kozyreva was arrested on February 24, 2024, for reciting a verse by Ukrainian muse Taras Shevchenko at his remembrance in St. Petersburg.
“Oh bury me, then rise ye up / And break your heavy chains / And water with the tyrants’ blood / The freedom you have gained,” according to the poem from Shevchenko’s My Testament, according to OVD-Info.
In August 2024, she faced a second charge for describing Russia’s actions in Ukraine as criminal and monstrous during a discussion with Radio Free Europe, as reported by OVD-Info.
The youngster insisted during one of her hearings that she had done “nothing more” than read a poem and copy a passage in Ukrainian, according to the court press service.
The anti-war activist has already encountered legal issues; in December 2022, while still a high school student, he was arrested for posting, “Murderers, you bombed it.” The rights group stated, “Judases,” on an exhibit honoring the twinning of Mariupol, Ukraine, and St. Petersburg, Russia.
Memorial, one of the most reputable human rights organizations in the nation, claims that, a year later, she was expelled from the university and faced defamation penalties for a post regarding the “imperialist nature of the war” on a Russian social media platform. In a statement made last year, Memorial labeled Kozyreva as a political prisoner and called. the charges against her “absurd,” claiming they were intended to stifle criticism.
SOTA Vision, a Russian independent media outlet, stated from within the hearing that prosecutors had been requesting a six-year sentence for Kozyreva. As she exited the tribunal, Kozyreva was seen grinning and pointing to fans on a Reuters video. Kozyreva’s attorney informed Reuters that they will probably file a lawsuit.
“This serves as yet another chilling reminder of the lengths to which Russian authorities will go to suppress peaceful dissent against their war in Ukraine,” stated Natalia Zviagina, director of Russia for Amnesty International, condemning the sentence.
“Daria Kozyreva is being penalized for protesting against an unfair war, declining to remain silent, and citing a masterpiece of Ukrainian poetry from the 19th century. We call for Daria Kozyreva and all those detained under “war censorship laws” to be released immediately and unconditionally,” Zviagina stated in a statement. Russia has a history of trying to suppress young people’s opposition to the war. According to OVD-Info, since 2009, at least 35 adolescents in Russia have been charged with crimes inspired by political motives. Since Moscow began its full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022, 23 prosecutions have been initiated.
Today, over 1,500 individuals are in prison on political charges in Russia, based on a count by OVD-Info, and Moscow’s persecution of dissenters has grown since the war commenced. From that time through to December 2024, a minimum of 20,070 individuals were arrested for anti-war sentiments, and there were 9,369 instances of ” slandering the army,” pertaining to activity such as posts on social media or sporting garments featuring Ukrainian flag symbols, said OVD-Info.