When Putin launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine in February 2022, starting a deadly conflict that rages on today, Aleksandra 'Sasha' Skochilenko knew she had to do something.
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she → launch → something
Inspired by other activists, she photoshopped five ordinary price tags, replaced the names of the products with anti-war messages and printed them out.
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she → inspire → them
She then swapped out real price tags in supermarkets with her own.
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She → swap → own
But what seemed like an innocent sticker campaign would leave the activist fearful of being raped, starved, kept in freezing temperatures and psychologically tortured while behind bars in St Petersburg, Russia.
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seemed → seem → Petersburg
Her act of defiance would also earn her a sentence of seven years for 'spreading false information' about Russian forces, following a trial that went on for more than a year.
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that → earn → year
Now, the former prisoner has shared her years of hell in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail.
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prisoner → share → Mail
In April 2022, Sasha replaced five price tags in a local supermarket with pieces of paper urging shoppers to stop the war and fight against the State's propaganda.
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Sasha → replace → propaganda
'Putin has been lying to us from television screens for 20 years: the result of these lies is our readiness to justify the war and the senseless deaths,' read one, which prosecutors claimed were a threat to Russian society.
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prosecutors → lie → society
Aleksandra 'Sasha' Skochilenko was sentenced in November 2023 for seven years for 'spreading false information' about Russian forces
Sasha was escorted by police officers to the court room for a hearing in the Vasileostrovsky district court in St. Petersburg, Russia, in November 2023
In April 2022, Sasha replaced five price tags in a local supermarket with pieces of paper urging shoppers to stop the war and fight against Russia's propaganda
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Sasha → sentence → propaganda
But an elderly shopper spotted Sasha's antics and in an act similar to that in the Soviet-era, she reported her fellow citizen to the Kremlin authorities.
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she → spot → authorities
The woman later defended her actions, which would put Sasha through years of turmoil, saying: 'I am proud of what I've done.'
Russian authorities tracked Sasha on CCTV to her friends house but missed her by minutes.
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authorities → defend → minutes
They then forced her friend to break all codes of loyalty and call her, asking her to come back to his house.
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They → force → house
'They ambushed my friend and made him invite me over,' Sasha told the Mail.
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Sasha → ambush → Mail
'They didn't introduce themselves, they just grabbed me.
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they → introduce → me
I screamed "help, save me" and fought them because I thought they were going to rape me.'
The now 36-year-old artist and musician then endured hours of interrogation as police questioned whether she was working alone, or was part of what they believed to be an organised activism group.
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they → scream → interrogation
She was deemed a threat to society and kept behind bars while an investigation took place, ultimately leading to her being charged with spreading 'fake' information.
But Sasha's physical and mental health deteriorated rapidly during the years she spent in the 'inhumane' conditions of St Petersburg's Detention Centre No5 before, during and after her trial.
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she → deem → trial
Sasha was forced to suffer after prosecutors refused to provide her essential medicines or requirements, which were crucial to treat her coeliac disease, bipolar disorder and a heart condition.
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which → force → disease
Sasha stood in a cage, which she was kept in for up to nine hours, during a hearing in a court in St Petersburg, Russia, in April 2022
Sasha's physical and mental health deteriorated rapidly during the years she spent in the 'inhumane' conditions of St Petersburg's Detention Centre No5 (pictured)
Coeliac disease is a severe autoimmune condition where the body attacks itself when a sufferer eats gluten.
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sufferer → stand → gluten
It can cause life-threatening complications.
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It → cause → complications
Prisoners were forced to drink contaminated tap water that 'made hair fall out' and caused 'severe skin problems', while Sasha became deadly ill after she was given the option to either eat gluten or starve.
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she → force → gluten
'I could only eat dinner, which was either cabbage or potato,' Sasha said.
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Sasha → eat → dinner
'I couldn't eat the breakfast of porridge with water nor the lunch of a 300ml measuring of soup.'
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I → eat → soup
The Russian-national was crammed into a small cell with 17 other prisoners, which was kept under constant surveillance by a camera inside, where she was psychologically tortured by those convicts who were cooperating with prison authorities.
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who → cram → authorities
'They would gaslight me by repeatedly saying "Sasha stinks" and make me go and wash my clothes by hand,' she described.
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she → gaslight → hand
'I would then dry the clothes in the freezing cold and put them on.
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I → dry → them
They would then say I smelt again and I would have to do it all over again.
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I → say → it
Sasha described how she was also yelled at by the women if she didn't put certain products in the 'exact spot' they should be in.
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they → describe → spot
'It was collective bullying,' she said.
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she → say → ?
The women would also force Sasha to watch shows about the Russian-Ukrainian war on TV, which were left rolling on repeat.
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which → force → repeat
'They watched them from dawn to night,' she described.
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she → watch → night
'I had friends in Ukraine.
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I → have → Ukraine
I also worked in a kids camp as a counseller in the country.
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I → work → country
That is the reason I protested, I couldn't keep silent as these children were hiding from shrapnel caused by my country.
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children → protest → country
'
'I actually found out they never watched shows about the war on TV before.
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they → find → TV
This was just invented for me,' Sasha added.
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Sasha → invent → me
Sasha is pictured with her wife Sofya Subbotina near the Mosel River in Koblenz, Germany
Sasha later discovered that officials had intentionally recruited her prison mates to inflict psychological abuse due to the growing media campaigns around Sasha's arrest on the outside.
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officials → picture → outside
And the 'grief' numerous complaints about her treatment caused.
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complaints → cause → treatment
This turmoil was heightened as Sasha was prohibited from speaking or seeing her then-girlfriend Sofya Subbotina for a year, as authorities called her now-wife as a witness.
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authorities → heighten → witness
Her family had also fled to France over fear of being pressured by the State.
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family → flee → State
The couple – who were not legally recognised under the anti-LGBTQ country's legislation – were later granted permission by the judge to speak for two hours a month.
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who → recognise → hours
…and 44 more, not listed.
The Aporia
