In Moscow, the police broke up the presentation of Sasha Skochilenko's comics, which took place at the Open Space site. Three of her comics were presented, which were published by the support group of the arrested artist in 2022-2023 – "The Book of Depression", "Notes on Depression" and "What is Mania". The publication "Agency" reports that an hour and a half after the start of the presentation, the police arrived. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in masks demanded those gathered to leave the premises and began to inspect it. According to the "Agency", the police put two visitors face down on the floor.
The meeting participants did not talk about the war in Ukraine – they discussed the problems of psychological education and the work of the artist.
Skochilenko, who faces up to 10 years in prison, was detained on April 11 in the evening, before that her house was searched. According to investigators, on March 31, 2022, in the Perekrestok store, Skochilenko disseminated information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The artist is accused of leaving messages on the price tags in stores about those killed in the shelling of the Mariupol Drama Theater. The investigator considers the disseminated information to be false, and the action itself – committed due to political hostility.
On January 20, the court refused to return the artist's case to the prosecutor's office and did not release her under house arrest. She has been in jail since April 13th.
The defense requested that the case be returned to the prosecutor's office due to the artist's deteriorating health and "humanistic considerations." The prosecutor noted that the lawyer did not refer to the Code of Criminal Procedure and did not give legal arguments. Skochilenko was left in jail. Several dozen people came to the court to support the artist, including the consuls of Sweden, Norway, Slovakia and Germany.
Sasha Skochilenko has serious health problems: congenital heart disease, gluten intolerance and bipolar disorder. In the last word, the artist spoke about daily abdominal pain and serious heart problems. Sasha asked the judges to think about the harm that her stay in the pre-trial detention center brings her and release her under house arrest. But the complaint was rejected.
