School snitch

Daughter’s drawing lands Russian in torture cell

Dreary everyday life in Russia: Alexei Moskaljov looks out of his apartment.(Bild: APA/AFP/Natalia KOLESNIKOVA)

Her father had to pay for 14-year-old Maria's anti-war drawing, which was created as part of her school lessons: he spent over a year in torturous conditions in a Russian prison.

Because the then 13-year-old daughter criticized the Russian offensive in Ukraine, her father Alexej Moskaljow was targeted by the authorities - who made short work of him. After his arrival in the prison camp, he was put in a cell, Moskaljow reported in a video broadcast by the human rights organization OWD-Info about his terrible prison conditions.

He spent two months there. He described the tiny cell, which he said he shared with another inmate, as "a real torture cell". "The floor was rotten, there were rats everywhere."

He also suffered from "appalling" cold. Among other things, he had to stay on his feet for 16 hours "because the beds were fixed to the wall again in the morning so you couldn't lie down". "It was impossible to sit on the small metal bench, which was freezing cold," he said.

Daughter now lives with her father again
After this time of horror, Alexei Moskaljov is now a free man again, his lawyer Vladimir Biljenko reported on Tuesday. "He feels more or less well, he was finally able to see his daughter again." OWD-Info published a video showing Moskaljov leaving a prison camp in the Tula region south of Moscow together with his 14-year-old daughter Maria:

According to his lawyer, the 56-year-old and his daughter are now returning to Yefremov, where they will live together again.

Worldwide consternation
The case of the single father made international headlines. After the then 13-year-old girl made a drawing at school showing a woman and a child being threatened by missiles next to a Ukrainian flag, the principal called in the authorities. Investigators then came across the father's critical comments on the Russian offensive in Ukraine on the internet.

As a result, the girl was sent to a home and was later placed with her mother, with whom she had had no contact for years. Moskaljov was sentenced to two years in prison in March 2023 for "denigrating" the Russian army.

Escape to Belarus
He fled to Belarus before the verdict was announced, but was caught two days later and extradited to Russia, according to a non-governmental organization. Moskaljov's sentence was eventually reduced in appeal proceedings. He spent a total of one year and seven months in prison.

According to OWD-Info, more than a thousand people have been prosecuted in Russia for criticizing the military operation since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.