A Russian man whose daughter drew an antiwar picture at school has been sentenced to two years in a penal colony on charges of discrediting the country’s armed forces.
Court officials, however, said that Alexei Moskalyov was not present for the sentencing on Tuesday (local time) as he had fled from house arrest in the hours before.
The 54-year-old had been wearing a tracking bracelet but had apparently removed it. His whereabouts remained unclear.
“The defendant, Mr Moskalyov, was not present when the verdict was announced because he fled house arrest last night,” a court spokeswoman said after the proceedings were over.
Her words were met with applause and cries of “Bravo!” from some of those in attendance.
Mr Moskalyov had been separated from his 13-year-old daughter Masha since he was placed under house arrest at the start of March and she was taken to a children’s home in their hometown of Yefremov, south of Moscow.
The case has provoked an outcry among Russian human rights activists and sparked an online campaign to reunite father and daughter.
Mr Moskalyov’s lawyer Vladimir Biliyenko said he had not seen his client since Monday and did not know whether Mr Moskalyov had fled.
“At the moment, to be honest, I’m in a state of shock,” he told Reuters.
He said the defence would appeal the verdict and Masha would remain in the children’s home for the time being.
Mr Moskalyov was convicted over comments he himself had posted online about the war in Ukraine.
But the investigation started after Masha, then 12, drew a picture last April showing Russian missiles raining down on a Ukrainian mother and child, prompting the head of her school to call the police.
The drawing featured a Ukrainian flag with the words “Glory to Ukraine” and a Russian tricolour with the slogan “No to war”.
Police began examining Mr Moskalyov’s social media activity and he was initially fined 35,000 roubles ($688) for comments critical of the Russian army.
In December, investigators opened another case against him on suspicion of discrediting the armed forces, this time based on a social media post in June.
The banned Russian human rights group Memorial said it considered Mr Moskalyov to be a political prisoner.
Tuesday’s court ruling has been seized upon by those who oppose Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine as a further crackdown, and described by some as a return to the Stalinist practice of targeting the children of “enemies of the state”. А petition calling for Masha’s release has received more than 140,000 signatures.
Mr Biliyenko visited Masha on Tuesday in the children’s home, officially named “Social Rehabilitation Centre For Minors Number 5”. He came away with drawings she had made for her father.
He was also allowed to photograph a letter she had written that read “Dad, you are my hero”.
Shortly after invading Ukraine last year, Russia outlawed the act of discrediting the armed forces and provided for jail sentences of several years.
-with AAP
