The Belarusian authorities have confirmed this Thursday the arrest of the father who escaped from his house arrest in Russia. Alexei Moskalyov was sentenced to prison for discrediting the army after his daughter drew an anti-war drawing in Ukraine at school.
Moskalyov was detained in the Minsk region (Belarus), according to the spokeswoman for the country’s Interior Ministry Natalya Sakharchuk. The politician has told the Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti and the Belarusian news outlet Sputnik that they had an arrest warrant “at the request of the Russian police.”
The man was sentenced to two years in prison by the Russian court but, before the judge’s ruling was expressed, he escaped from the house arrest in which he was confined.
During the trial, which lasted only one day, Moskalyov was accused of criticizing the Russian government on his social media for the invasion of Ukraine. He made that he later repeated his daughter at school with an anti-war drawing. The man insisted that he had nothing to do with the publications with which he was linked.
According to his lawyer and supporters, the detainee’s problems began after his 13-year-old daughter Maria drew an anti-war drawing at Yefremov School No. 9, showing missiles flying over a Russian flag toward a woman. and a child saying “No to war” and “Glory to Ukraine.” The school called the police, the girl was questioned and Moskalyov was fined for critical comments on his social networks, according to the officers. Months later, his apartment was raided and a criminal case was opened against him. This month, he was placed under house arrest and his daughter was placed in an orphanage.
The case of this 54-year-old father has attracted the attention of all Western countries this week, as the international community interprets the sentence as an example of the Kremlin’s repression against all those who are against the war.
