Shevchenko treats four years of conditional imprisonment as severe sentence

The court has appointed a milder sentence than the prosecution demanded, but the conditional imprisonment also implies a number of restrictions, Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist, has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that prosecutors requested the court to sentence Anastasia Shevchenko, a member of the federal council of the NGO "Open Russia"*, to five years of imprisonment. On February 7, Anastasia Shevchenko delivered her final speech, in which she called on law enforcers and judges not to fulfil the political order to persecute activists. On February 18, 2021, the Oktiabrsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Anastasia Shevchenko to four years of conditional imprisonment.

According to the verdict, her house arrest is cancelled; until the verdict comes into force, Shevchenko will be under recognizance not to leave.

Leaving the courthouse, Ms Shevchenko told the audience that she did not share the joy, as she will still "remains hostage for a long time." "We haven't seen the verdict yet; it was very hard to hear it. We need to read everything. We only heard about four [years]. I didn't even understand the restrictions," Anastasia said, thanking journalists and advocates.

Sergey Badamshin, her advocate, has not comment on the verdict. "The main point is that she is going home, and not somewhere else. And, at last, she'll be un-handcuffed after living for two years in the 'bracelets'," Mr Badamshin said.

*The activities of two UK-registered organizations that contain the words "Open Russia" in their names have been recognized by the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) as undesirable in the country.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 18, 2021 at 08:38 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.