Prosecution requests two years behind bars for Alexey Moskalyov, whose daughter drew anti-war picture at school

During a court hearing in the Yefremov Inter-District Court in Russia’s Tula region, the prosecution has requested two years in a penal colony as a punishment for Alexey Moskalyov, whose daughter drew an anti-war picture at school in 2022 and has now been put in a children’s home, over charges of repeated “discreditation” of the Russian army, Mediazona reports. 

According to the media outlet, the court has found Moskalyov having an underage daughter to be a mitigating circumstance, however, the prosecutor proclaimed that his having committed “the crime” during “the special operation” was an aggravating one. 

Moskalyov has been under house arrest since the beginning of March due to being charged with repeated “discreditation” of the Russian army. The criminal case was initiated because of anti-war posts shared online.

Earlier today, the prosecutor asked for Moskalyov to be sent to a pre-trial detention centre, justifying his request with the fact that the house arrest “has been violated several times”. However, the court ruled Moskalyov would stay under house arrest.

Moskalyov was detained on 1 March; his daughter Masha was sent to a children’s home in the town of Yefremov where they both live. The town’s social rehabilitation centre later clarified that Masha would not be “allowed” to leave the children’s home to return to her father. Currently, the case on restriction of Moskalyov’s parental rights is being considered in court. The girl’s mother is not in the picture.

In April 2022, the girl drew an anti-war picture — she drew Russian and Ukrainian flags and wrote the slogan “No to war” — during an art class at school. Afterwards, the Federal Security Service (FSB) officers had a talk with her, while a protocol on “discrediting” the Russian army was drawn up against her father whose anti-war posts and comments had been discovered online.