Digital Editions
Newsletters
Subscribe
Digital Editions
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Russia-Ukraine war
news

St Petersburg artist faces prison after anti-war protest in grocery store

Sasha Skochilenko replaced price tags with news reports about bombings in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol

Sophia Kishkovsky
14 April 2022
Share
Sasha Skochilenko is in pre-trail detention Image: via Arseny Vesnin/Twitter

Sasha Skochilenko is in pre-trail detention Image: via Arseny Vesnin/Twitter

An artist in St Petersburg faces up to ten years in prison for an anti-war protest in which she replaced supermarket shelf price labels with short news texts about the bombing of an art school and drama theatre in Mariupol, the besieged Ukrainian port city.

Judge Yelena Leonova, ruled that Sasha Skochilenko, 32, must be held in pre-trial detention until 31 May. She was arrested after a supermarket customer reported the labels to the police. Perekryostok was caught on security camera footage and questioned late into the night of 11 April according to her lawyer, who was quoted by independent news sources.

A Russian activist who replaced price tags in supermarkets with anti-war appeals and graphic images of atrocities in Ukraine has been jailed for 8 weeks pending her trial for “discrediting Russia’s armed forces.” Aleksandra Skochilenko faces 10 years behind bars. pic.twitter.com/6BgSUUiohE

— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) April 13, 2022

According to PaperPaper, a St Petersburg news site for which Skochilenko used to work and which has, like most independent news sources, been blocked in Russia, the judge said that Skochilenko is “accused of carrying out serious actions against public safety”, and that “acting deliberately, she installed fragments of paper containing knowingly false information.” The fact that she “has friends in Ukraine” and “a sister in France” are grounds to keep her in prison rather than under house arrest.

It is a crime to describe Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine as a war, according to a new law that took effect on 4 March.

Sasha Skochilenko replaced price tags with information on the war in Ukraine Image: Sever.Realii

In a social media post that has since been locked, Skochilenko wrote on 2 March that “peace postcards” left on store shelves are a way of reaching the public. The post and postcards that she created are published on Sever.Realii, a news site of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

“After all, there are still a lot of people who do not know (do not remember?) about what a miracle human life is, how beautiful and precious it is, and that violence is not a solution to problems,” she wrote.

Yesterday in Moscow, in a further sign of how far authorities will go to block positive mentions of Ukraine, a concert which featured music by Valentin Silvestrov—Ukraine’s most famous living composer—was raided by police. Silvestrov, 84, had to flee Kyiv in March and is now a refugee in Berlin.

Russia-Ukraine warLawContemporary art
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Instagram
Bluesky
LinkedIn
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
© The Art Newspaper

Related content

Russia-Ukraine warnews
9 November 2023

Russian prosecutors seek eight-year prison sentence for artist who installed anti-war messages in grocery store

The St Petersburg artist Sasha Skochilenko was arrested in April 2022 for replacing a store's price labels with information about the war in Ukraine

Sophia Kishkovsky
Russia-Ukraine waranalysis
19 May 2022

Venice gets political: how the art world's biggest stage has become a focal point for Ukrainian protests

From demonstrations to a presidential address, the Biennale city continues to be a creative platform to criticise Russia's war

Gareth Harris and José da Silva
Russia-Ukraine warnews
17 November 2023

Russian artist Sasha Skochilenko jailed for anti-war protest

Skochilenko was charged for replacing supermarket price labels with pieces of information about the destruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol

Sophia Kishkovsky
Russia-Ukraine warnews
8 March 2022

Russian pro-war symbol 'Z' sprayed onto Pussy Riot member's door

Ubiquitous letter was first spotted on Russian tanks on the Ukrainian border

Sophia Kishkovsky