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Alexei Moskalev, convicted to two years in prison for “discrediting” the Russian army in March this year, has had his sentence overturned by the Saratov First Cassation Court, according to a report by RusNews. Moskalev will now be transferred from the prison where he is currently being held to a pre-trial detention center.
The Tula Regional Court will reconsider the case. According to Moskalev's lawyer Vladimir Bilienko, the reason for the annulment of the verdict “could be violations, but it's not clear yet.”
According to the independent publication Mediazona, Moskalev, who is imprisoned in Penal Colony No. 6 (IK-6) in Novomoskovsk in the Tula Region, has been sent to solitary confinement in a punishment cell at least five times.
In March, Moskalev was sentenced to two years in prison for posting about the killing of civilians in Bucha on the social network Odnoklassniki. He escaped from house arrest on the day of the sentencing but was soon arrested in Minsk. Law enforcement authorities took an interest in Moskalev in February 2022, after his daughter, Masha, made an anti-war drawing in class. The school administration reported the sixth-grader, and the girl and her father were then questioned several times by the FSB. The family's home was searched, and Alexei Moskalev was eventually prosecuted. Masha, who lived with her father, was first sent to an orphanage and then handed over to her mother.
Russia's top human rights organization Memorial, which has been outlawed by the authorities, said it considered Moskalev a political prisoner.