A post about the Crimean bridge explosion led Russian police to the home of Olesya Krivtsova. The student is awaiting a verdict under house arrest, accused of terrorism and discrediting the army.
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“Big Brother is watching you.” The Orwellian-style phrase that Olesya Krivtsova tattooed on her left leg, accompanied by an image of the Russian president in the body of a spider, is not far from reality. The 20-year-old university student only realized how much the day Russian policemen broke into her house and took her into custody. Since then, she has been under house arrest, with an electronic bracelet, prohibited from talking on the phone or using the internet and faces a prison sentence of up to ten years, on charges of terrorism and disrepute of the Russian Armed Forces.
“I never imagined that someone could face such a long prison sentence for posting something on the Internet”admitted Olesya Krivtsova, a student at Arkhangelsk University, in an interview with the BBC.
The young woman revealed to the British broadcaster that it all started after sharing a post on her Instagram account about the explosion in Crimea Crimea – described by the Kremlin as a terrorist act by Kiev forces – and, later, share a friend’s post about the war explosion in Ukraine.
Crimean bridge explosion was a Ukrainian terror attack, Vladimir Putin says
Krivtsova never thought that the content would bring the police to her door at the end of December 2022.” I was on the phone with my mom when I heard the front door open. Many policemen entered. They took my cell phone and yelled at me to lie down on the floor, ”she recalled.
The university student discovered, however, that it was through some university classmates that the authorities found out about her case. The decision will have been made through a chat group where they discussed the possibility of reporting it. “It is the duty of a patriot,” wrote one of the students, according to the images of the conversation that the BBC had access to.
At this time the young woman, who had already been fined 30,000 rubles for distributing anti-war leaflets, awaits the conclusion of her case under house arrest. she was, however, added to the Russian list of terrorists and extremists, which includes groups such as ISIS or Al Qaeda.
When I realized that I had been put on the same list as school shooters and ISIS, I thought it was crazy,” Krivtsova told the BBC.
For the student, her case shows that the State does not have the courage to open up to debates, democracy or freedom, but leaves a warning: “You can’t put everyone in jail. At some point they will run out of cells.”.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities have tightened the noose around public demonstrations against the war. According to the independent organization OVD-Info, which monitors human rights in Russia, there are some 443 people suspected and convicted of anti-war crimes, including Krivtsova.
Russia sentences journalist to six years in prison for criticizing war
In a similar case, a Russian court on Wednesday sentenced a journalist to six years in prison for criticizing the Russian offensive against Ukraine on Instagram. Maria Ponomarenko was found guilty of “spreading false information” about the Russian Armed Forces.
Source: Observadora
