Police investigated a Russian man named Alexei Moskalyov after his daughter drew an anti-war picture at school. On Tuesday, a court sentenced him to two years in a penal colony on charges of discrediting his country’s armed forces. However, it is unclear where Moskalyov currently is, as the court said in an official post on VKontakte, similar to Facebook, that he had escaped from house arrest.
At the beginning of this month, authorities placed Moskalyov under house arrest, and he has since been separated from his 13-year-old daughter Masha. They relocated Masha to a children’s home in Yefremov, their hometown located south of Moscow.. The case has provoked an outcry among Russian human rights activists and sparked an online campaign to reunite father and daughter.
Moskalyov’s lawyer, Vladimir Biliyenko, said he had not seen his client since Monday and did not know whether Moskalyov had fled. Biliyenko had only the spokesperson’s statement to go by.
“At the moment, to be honest, I’m in a state of shock,” he told the media.
He said the defence would appeal against the verdict and Masha would remain in the children’s home for the time being.
The Anti-War Drawing
Moskalyov received a conviction for posting online comments about the war in Ukraine. But the investigation started after Masha, then 12, drew a picture last April showing Russian missiles raining down on a Ukrainian mother and child, prompting the head of her school to call the police.
The drawing featured a Ukrainian flag with the words “Glory to Ukraine” and a Russian tricolour with the slogan “No to war”.
Police started investigating Moskalyov’s social media activity, and they initially fined him 35,000 roubles ($460) for making critical comments about the Russian army. In December, investigators opened another case against him on suspicion of discrediting the armed forces, this time based on a social media post in June.
The banned Russian human rights group Memorial said it considered Moskalyov to be a political prisoner.
Biliyenko visited Masha on Tuesday in the children’s home, officially named “Social Rehabilitation Centre For Minors Number 5”, and came away with drawings she had made for her father.
Shortly after invading Ukraine last year, Russia outlawed the act of discrediting the armed forces and provided for jail sentences of several years.