P. S.
16. 10. 2024, 14.18
Updated: October 16, 2024, 2:35 p.m
Alexei Moskalyov is back on the loose after serving a year and a half sentence on charges related to his daughter Masha’s anti-war drawing.
A few months after the Russian army invaded Ukraine, she was 12 years old Masa Moskaljov drew a picture at school of a woman with a Ukrainian flag protecting her child from Russian rockets. The drawing that was the beginning of a nightmare…
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Maša Moskaljov with a controversial drawing.
Trapped in Belarus, she in an orphanage
The school principal called the police. The Russian Security Service (FSB) first interrogated Masha and then her father and told him that his upbringing was improper. He was accused of anti-war publications and fined 400 euros. But it didn’t stop there. In December 2022, new charges were filed against him, in which he was accused of discrediting the Russian military. Masha was sent to an orphanage, as her estranged mother refused to accept her.
Moskaljov was sentenced to two years in prison, but just before the sentence was handed down, he escaped from house arrest. He wanted to go to Europe, but he was caught in Belarus last April. He was returned to Russia and sent to a penal colony. That very month, Maša was transferred from the orphanage to her mother, who in the meantime was persuaded to accept her daughter, with whom they had previously had no contact.
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Touching moment of father and daughter meeting again.
This is a torture chamber
The case of the Moskals had a lot of resonance, non-governmental and humanitarian organizations stood up for Aleksey. In February this year, his sentence was reduced to one year and 10 months, which ended this week. When he was released, his daughter Maša, journalists and representatives of non-governmental organizations were waiting for him in front of the prison. The meeting between father and daughter was touching, neither of them could hold back their tears. The separation from his daughter was the worst for him, much more so than the otherwise terrible conditions in the prison in Novomoskovsk in the Tula region.
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Alexei Moskalyov after his release from prison.
“It’s a torture chamber. Rotten floors, huge rats crawling everywhere. The only clothing we had was a T-shirt on our naked bodies. We were on our feet for 16 hours every day because the beds were attached to the wall, and the metal bench was so cold that it was impossible to sit on it.” said Moskaljov after his release, who received many letters of support from all over the world, and what kept him going the most was the thought of his daughter and meeting her again.
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After a year and a half, father and daughter are reunited.
Fear of what will happen
Now she fears that their nightmare may not be over yet. Before his release, FSB agents interrogated other prisoners about what he talked about while serving his sentence, and he is afraid that they will come knocking on their door again soon.
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Tears of happiness at the release of the father
Source: svet24.si
