The loving father of a Russian girl aged 13 who drew a "No to War" picture at school was today sentenced to two years in a harsh penal colony.
Masha Moskalyova has been temporarily shut in a grim rehabilitation centre, part of the state orphanage system, while the criminal case against her father was underway.
Her picture contained the words "Glory to Ukraine" and showed Russian missiles aimed at a woman and child.
Her single father Alexei Moskalyov, 54, is due to be shut away unable to see her as punishment for "repeatedly discrediting the army”.
But court officials said he had gone on the run.
He was not in court and officials said he had absconded fearing a jail sentence.
He is also likely to be deprived of his parental rights - which would mean he never sees her again.
She could be sent permanently to an orphanage or given to a foster family.
It is the first time since the Soviet era that a child has been separated from a parent based on political views.
A day earlier in the witness box in Efremov, Tula region he said: “Those who are in the court are 90 per cent against the war in Ukraine.”
The case against him only began after her picture came to light - and is seen as symbolising the brutal justice under Putin for critics of his bloody war.
The pair are seen together in a video before they were separated.
The video shows the drawing which depicts Russian missiles fired at a peaceful Ukraine.
“The verdict was announced today, but the defendant was not present because he escaped last night,” said court spokeswoman Olga Dyachuk.
There was applause from his supporters in the court.
A petition signed by almost 150,000 called Masha’s treatment “monstrous” and cites experts saying there are “no legal grounds” to incarcerate her in a Tula region “rehabilitation” centre, part of the state orphanage system.
The girl’s fate will be decided by the social services authorities.
The repressive action against the schoolgirl began when she drew an anti-war picture at school.
Pupils had been told by a teacher to do artwork in support of Russia’s troops.
She was reported to police by a teacher, and quizzed by the FSB, Putin’s feared counterintelligence service.
Her father was quizzed and found to have posted his support for Ukraine and caricatures of Vladimir Putin on social media for which he was fined £350.
Legal action against him continued culminating in today’s sentence.
The father claimed he had been threatened by the FSB.
“For three and a half hours they told me that I was not raising the child in the right way,” he said.
“They said they would take her from me, and will sentence me.”
His lawyer described the sentence - which mirrored the demand by the prosecutors - as “harsh”.
Even the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose men are fighting for Putin in Ukraine, offered his support to Maria and criticised the local authorities.
