MOSCOW (AP) – A Russian man convicted of insulting the military after his daughter drew a painting criticizing Russia’s military action in Ukraine was released from prison after serving 22 months, a body that monitors political arrests said Tuesday.
Alexei Moskalyov was convicted in March 2023 on the basis of a post he made on a social network. This position came to the attention of the authorities after his daughter, who was 13 years old at the time, made a painting at school protesting the military campaign.
Moskalyov was sentenced to two years in prison, but escaped. He was arrested in Belarus a day later and extradited to Russia. Over time, the court reduced his sentence to one year and ten months.
The OVD-Info group, which reported on his release, said that Moskalyov told it that agents of the Federal Security Service had investigated other prisoners in his unit before he was released and suggested that they were looking for a reason to open new charges against him.
Since sending troops to Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has been heavily critical of the military and operations in Ukraine. Many prominent opponents of the war who were sentenced to long prison terms – one of them for 25 years – were released and sent out of the country in August in a massive prisoner exchange with the West.
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