Mother Sentenced to Penal Colony for Condemning Putin’s Actions in Ukraine
A Russian military court has sentenced Anastasia Berezhinskaya, a 43-year-old theatre director from Moscow, to eight years in a penal colony. Berezhinskaya faced charges for posting anti-war messages online, including explicit calls for President Vladimir Putin’s assassination, according to reports from Russian news outlets.
Her conviction rests on violating two Russian wartime censorship statutes—discrediting the armed forces and disseminating misinformation—along with a charge for justifying terrorism.
Russian human rights organization OVD-Info reports that more than 1,000 individuals in Russia have been prosecuted for anti-war remarks since the invasion of Ukraine, with over 20,000 people detained for public protests against the conflict. Earlier this week, another court in Moscow sentenced a 68-year-old pediatrician to a five-and-a-half-year prison term after she was accused of criticizing Russian soldiers’ actions in Ukraine.
In the early months of the invasion in February 2022, Berezhinskaya shared numerous posts on VKontakte, condemning the war and describing it as a “genocide” perpetrated by the Russian military and Interior Ministry, with Putin personally responsible for civilian casualties in Ukraine. On May 14, 2022, Berezhinskaya intensified her posts, lambasting Putin directly and attributing the deaths of innocent civilians to his decisions, asserting that his actions had reduced entire buildings to rubble.
Despite official Russian denials of targeting civilians, the conflict has resulted in significant loss of life. Berezhinskaya’s comments escalated to outright calls for Putin’s death. In one of her posts, she demanded, “Shoot that stupid bastard Putin, how many more murders of civilians do we have to bear?” and implored that he be “wiped off the face of the earth.”
Reports from Mediazona reveal that Berezhinskaya admitted to the charges related to spreading “false information” and discrediting the military but only partially conceded to the terrorism justification charge. Her lawyer has yet to disclose whether they will appeal the court’s decision.
Berezhinskaya’s family circumstances—two young children and a husband with epilepsy—were also brought to light, along with her mixed personality disorder diagnosis. In her final court statement, she resignedly stated, “Your Honour, I have nothing to say, nothing to add. I will accept any decision you make.”
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Mother Sentenced to Penal Colony for Condemning Putin’s Actions in Ukraine
