Russian shop owner who painted anti-war slogans on his storefront released from prison

A Russian entrepreneur who painted anti-war slogans on the front of his store was released from custody on Friday. 

Dmitry Skurikhin, a resident of a small village near St. Petersburg, was sentenced to 18 months in a penal colony in August 2023 for “discrediting the Russian military” after using his business to protest the war in Ukraine. He was the first person to receive a prison sentence rather than a fine under legislation that passed in Russia officially making it a crime to speak negatively about the Kremlin’s war effort.

Before going into business for himself, Skurikhin worked in politics in the early 2000s and was the only independent municipal deputy in his town. Though he was popular in his village, he disagreed with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and left politics. 

Skurikhin first publicly spoke out against the war in March 2022, when he posted a video to his Telegram channel declaring, “I, an active citizen from the St. Petersburg region, protest against this war. Putin and his gang are a cancerous tumour that has engulfed all of Russia and is now spreading its metastases in Ukraine and around the world. Russians, let’s stop this disease, stop this plague! No to war in Ukraine!” 

Subsequently, he chose to decorate his store with a slew of anti-war slogans, painting in bold, red letters across his storefront “peace to Ukraine” and “freedom to Russia”. 

Throughout his trial, Skurikhin maintained his innocence. He emphasised that he had a civic right to express his view and did not discredit the military by doing so. “I exercised my right to freedom of speech, my freedom to call out black from white,” he said in his final statement before the court handed down its verdict.

Upon leaving the penal colony, Skurikhin thanked everyone who stood by his side for their support and asked reporters “not to bother him with questions” for some time, as he wanted to spend time with his family, who greeted him at the prison gate. “My wife brought me photos while visiting me, but I didn’t recognise my youngest child!” he said jokingly to the media while walking out of custody and hugging his wife.