Skochilenkos lawyers began presenting proof of her innocence. They weren’t able to question the prosecution’s experts, as they both failed to show up to the court hearing, saying that they had both ended up in a hospital. But the defence still has a lot of unanswered questions towards the experts. They are now planning on asking them during the next hearing — on 22 June.
I want to remind everyone that these things aren’t the norm, they’re the exception.
The Kremlin’s strategy is to make an example out of select few for the purpose of instilling fear into the population, thus keeping them politically complacent and subservient.
The vast majority who went out to protest when the full invasion started didn’t go to jail, they were just detained for a couple hours and given a fine.
If you go to VK/Vkontakte (Russian version of facebook) you’ll easily find anti-regime, anti-war voices that aren’t being silenced. I’ve had an account there for more than a year, it still up and running despite all the shit I’ve said about the Kremlin/Putin/Army/Russia/Russians.
Also, in the year prior to the full scale invasion - 2021 - there were more protesters detained than they were in 2022, but in 2022 there were more people made public examples by being given long sentences than in 2022.
I’m saying all of this not to minimize the suffering or oppression that Russian anti-war activists are subjected to, but to bring to light the actual reality in the Russian society, because I’ve got the feeling that a wrong picture is being painted.