March 10th 2024.
A young student from Moscow State University has recently found himself in a predicament after being imprisoned for 10 days. The reason? He had the audacity to change the name of his wi-fi network to a pro-Ukrainian slogan. The student, who remains unnamed, had renamed his network to "Slava Ukraini", which translates to "Glory to Ukraine" - a phrase often used by Ukrainian forces.
According to reports from Ria-Novosti news agency, the student was charged with "public demonstration of Nazi symbolics or symbols of extremist organisations". It all started when a police officer stumbled upon the network name and reported it to the authorities. The student was then promptly arrested in the bustling city of Moscow on a Wednesday morning.
Upon further investigation, officers discovered that the student had a personal computer and a wi-fi router in his student room at the university. Court documents reveal that he had used the network to spread the slogan "Slava Ukraini!" to anyone within the wi-fi range. Unfortunately for him, this act of support towards Ukraine did not sit well with the Russian government.
Ever since the Russian offensive in February 2022, the officials have been cracking down on anyone who publicly criticizes their actions or shows support for Ukrainian forces. In fact, there have been a multitude of cases where people have been handed prison sentences or hefty fines for doing just that. For instance, a woman was detained for simply laying flowers for Alexei Navalny at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg last month.
It's not just about voicing opposition towards the conflict, Russians are not even allowed to refer to it as a "war". They are forced to call it a "special military operation", as reported by the BBC. As per Amnesty International, over 21,000 individuals were targeted last year by Russia's oppressive laws in an attempt to silence anti-war activists. The human rights charity also shed light on the unjust trials that were conducted to "dish out prison sentences and hefty fines to silence critics in response to the slightest dissent".
In the midst of all this chaos, hundreds of people were detained last month for simply laying flowers in memory of Alexei Navalny, who died under suspicious circumstances in an Arctic Circle prison. It's a grim reality for those living in Russia, where even the slightest hint of dissent can lead to imprisonment.
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