The latest hearing in the case against Sasha Skochilenko took place. I think the group of her supporters has only grown more numerous. In any case, I didn’t make it into the courtroom: right as I was about to go in, we were told that there were no more seats, although there were still a fair number of people left waiting in the hallway.
And so a campaign was born to file complaints about the fact that people who want to attend the hearings are not being let into the courtroom. The complaints were submitted and stamped at the front desk.
“Have you heard that Tinder is leaving Russia? Where will people hook up now?”
“What you do mean, where? In courts, in support groups [for political prisoners]. It’s good people who’ve convened here…”
A young woman handed out small handmade paper cranes. Representatives from four [foreign] consulates and [Petersburg municipal district councillor] Sergei Troshin were in attendance.
The hearing itself was brief, less than two hours long. An expert witness testified that, after a detailed examination, she had been unable to find any evidence of the alleged crimes in the [anti-war] price tags [that Ms. Skochilenko supposedly attached to shelves in a Petersburg supermarket].
Sasha is holding up well, but is coughing a little. They say her cellmate tested positive for coronavirus.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 24.
Source: Alexei Sergeyev (Facebook), 2 May 2023. The original post contains two short videos shot by Mr. Sergeyev, one of which shows Ms. Skochilenko being led into the courtroom by guards and being cheered by her supporters. I’ve inserted a still from the video, above. Translated by the Russian Reader
The Russian Reader 