Misik, now 19 years old, was convicted on Tuesday, along with two activists, for hanging a protest poster and applying pink watercolor on the entrance of the Public Prosecution Service in August 2020. For the next 2 years and 2 months, she will be allowed to leave her hometown of Voskresensk – a town outside Moscow – not deserted and must be home between 10pm and 6am.
Her closing speech in court is shared among critics of President Putin as a pamphlet against the intensified repression from the authorities. Misik defended her choice to protest against “the fascist regime”: “I made the right choice and the right choice always has serious consequences in a totalitarian state.”
In appeal
The restriction of freedom is a mild punishment compared to the prison sentences imposed on peaceful protesters in recent months. But Misik does not accept the conviction she says is the result of her action in which she read the constitution: her lawyer has announced that she will appeal.
For the past nine months, Misik has had to adhere to freedom restrictions pending the verdict. Her studies at the prestigious Moscow State University have therefore come under pressure.
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