Former Soviet dissident Alexander Skobov is determined to defend his political beliefs. In Putin’s Russia this requires immense sacrifice – something that may sadly become a reality in other countries, if they succumb to autocratic tendencies.
For Alexander Skobov, who has been in pretrial detention since April 2024, his political activism may mean he would die in prison. Nearly a year after he was arrested, prosecutors in Saint Petersburg requested 18-year prison sentence for Skobov’s social media posts about Russian agression against Ukraine and Putin’s policy.
The 68-year old activist, whose health deteriorated markedly over the year of imprisonment, is charged with “justifying terrorism” and “involvement with terrorist community.” Additionally, he was charged for his involvement with the Free Russia Forum, an association, founded by the world chess champion Garry Kasparov. The Free Russia Forum was pronounced an undesirable organization, which makes it illegal for Russian citizens to interact with it.
Skobov joined the opposition movement in the USSR in the 1970s and was twice forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital, for a total of six years. Using psychiatry for political persecution was a common practice in the Soviet Union. Despite the pleas from his family to leave Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Skobov chose to remain, while admitting that he did not know what practical use his position may have in the short-term.