Ukrainian woman sentenced to 12 years in Moscow for protesting against the war

A court in Moscow sentenced Ukrainian Christina Lyubashenko to 12 years for anti-war action. She came to Moscow from Switzerland, where she was a refugee. This was reported by Mediazona on 17 June.

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kiev resident Kristina Lyubashenko fled to Switzerland with her family. There she succumbed to threats and persuasions of a casual acquaintance to go to the Russian Federation and launch balloons with the white-blue-white flag in Moscow for a fee.

Lyubashenko was detained by Russian security forces on 8 May 2023; they were waiting for her at the balloon launch site.

on 17 June 2024, the 2nd Western District Military Court in Moscow sentenced the 35-year-old Ukrainian to 12 years in prison for "spreading fakes about the war and participation in a terrorist organisation".

According to the investigation, on 8 May 2023, Lyubashenko put sound speakers on the window of a flat in Dolgoprudny and loudly played an anti-war speech and the Ukrainian anthem. On the same day, she went to Vorobyovy Gory in Moscow and launched balloons into the sky with a white-blue-white flag tied to them.

The investigation regarded this as participation in a terrorist organisation. It is noted that the Russian authorities consider the white-blue-white flag to be the flag of the legion "Freedom of Russia", recognised in Russia as a terrorist organisation.

It is noted that the court consideration of the case of Lyubashenko was held only two days.

The lawyer said that Christina Lyubashenko lived in Kiev with her mother sick with cancer, grandfather with dementia and two daughters. After 24 February 2022, the family fled to Switzerland.

It is reported that the family barely had enough money to live on. One day Lyubashenko met a neighbour, one Vitaliy Yurchenko, who posed as a refugee from Ukraine.

The man first lent Lyubashenko money, and then asked her to go to Moscow and hold a "peaceful action against war" there for money.

The said Yurchenko bought Lyubashenko a ticket to the Russian Federation and rented a flat in Dolgoprudny. He also controlled the Ukrainian woman's movements and gave her instructions.

Lyubashenko arrived in Moscow on 5 May 2023. Yurchenko demanded that she put anti-war speakers in the flat window. He threatened that he would inform the guardianship authorities about the daughters she left behind in Switzerland and they would be taken to an orphanage.

The Ukrainian was forced to agree. on 8 May, she put up speakers in the window with anti-war notes and then went to Vorobyovy Gory to launch balloons.

According to the lawyer, Yurchenko was well-versed in Moscow and the Moscow suburbs. Lyubashenko launched white balloons with a piece of cloth and was immediately detained.

According to the policeman who detained the Ukrainian, he received information from his superiors in advance that "a certain person would organise a protest action" in Moscow.

The lawyer asked the court to close the case because there were no signs of corpus delicti. Krystyna Lyubashenko spoke in Ukrainian in court. She did not plead guilty.

Earlier Socialportal reported that in the Russian Rostov-on-Don the court announced the verdict of the civilian prisoner from Zaporozhye region. He was sentenced to 18 years in a strict regime colony.