Saint Petersburg – A Russian court on Tuesday sent an 18-year-old street musician who performed anti-war songs to jail for a third time as the Kremlin mounts a no-limits crackdown on any signs of dissent or opposition.
All public criticism of Moscow’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin or the army is outlawed under sweeping censorship laws that rights groups have compared to those of the Soviet Union.
Diana Loginova, a music student known by the stage name Naoko, was arrested last month after staging pop-up street concerts reciting songs by exiled Russian artists Monetochka and Noize MC in Saint Petersburg.
The performances went viral, capturing attention at a time when public opposition to the Kremlin and the war in Ukraine is virtually non-existent.
Diana Loginova, the-18-year-old music student, street musician and lead singer of the Stoptime band known by the stage name Naoko, who was earlier arrested after her performances of songs by exiled Russian artists known for their opposition to the the country’s military campaign in Ukraine, and served two short jail terms for
She has already served two 13-day sentences, being re-arrested and re-charged with new offenses immediately after both releases.
Rights lawyers have said the singer is now caught up in a jail “carousel,” a practice whereby prosecutors lob a string of minor charges against defendants to keep them in constant custody.
In the latest case, she was found guilty of organizing the mass gathering of people and sentenced to another 13 days in prison, an AFP correspondent reported from the Saint Petersburg court.
Since Loginova’s arrest, a flurry of videos in support of her and her band Stoptime have flooded TikTok, while other young street performers have expressed solidarity with her in public, risking fines or jail sentences themselves.
The band’s guitarist, Alexander Orlov, was also jailed for another 13 days. In court, he sat between his lawyer and a masked police officer.
Street singers in other Russian cities who performed in support of Loginova have also faced arrests.
A day earlier, independent media reported that a court in the city of Perm, more than 900 miles east of Saint Petersburg, handed 20-year-old performer Yekaterina Romanova 15 days in jail.
Romanova, also known as Yekaterina Ostasheva, had performed in support of Loginova in Perm and had already been given seven days in jail earlier this month.
Thousands have been detained since Russia banned criticism of the army shortly after launching its attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
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