Russian Woman Jailed for Anti-War Poem: A Look at Repression and Silencing Dissent
A 19-year-old woman, Darya Kozyreva, has been sentenced to nearly three years in a penal colony by a St. Petersburg court for repeatedly discrediting the Russian army. The charges stemmed from gluing a quote by Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko onto his monument and an interview where she criticized the war in Ukraine. This is not Kozyreva’s first run-in with the law, as she was previously fined and expelled from university for anti-war statements. Human rights organizations have condemned the verdict as politically motivated, highlighting Russia’s crackdown on dissent and its efforts to silence opposition to the war.
John Q. Hosedrinker