Alexandra Skochilenko

Alexandra Skochilenko, also known as Sasha Skochilenko (born September 13, 1990 in St. Petersburg, Russia) is a Russian artist and musician. Sasha is an alumna of the Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Petersburg State University. She is an author of the "Book About Depression" (2014), which helped destigmatize mental health issues in Russia. In April 2022 she was jailed for allegedly replacing supermarket labels with messages protesting against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1]

After taking part in a protest against the war on 24 February 2022, Skochilenko was fined 10,000 roubles.[1]

On 31 March Skochilenko was arrested for "putting fragments of paper in place of price tags, containing knowingly false information about the use of the Russian armed forces" in a Perekrestok supermarket.[1] The messages attributed to her included information about Mariupol theatre airstrike on March 16: "The Russian army bombed an art school in Mariupol where about 400 people were hiding from the shelling."[2] Skochilenko was jailed for eight weeks pending trial, accused of being motivated by "political hatred for Russia". Under the recently introduced Russian fake news laws she faces a sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment if found guilty.[1]