A Russian court has sentenced 19-year-old activist Daria Kozyreva to two years and eight months in prison for her antiwar activism, which included the use of poetry and graffiti to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The verdict has sparked widespread outrage from human rights organizations, who view the case as emblematic of the Kremlin’s escalating crackdown on dissent.
Kozyreva was convicted on Friday of repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian military. The charges stem from her public display of a poster featuring a poem by Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko and an interview she gave to Sever.Realii, a Russian-language service of Radio Free Europe. A Reuters journalist present at the court confirmed the sentencing.
In court, Kozyreva maintained her innocence, calling the case “one big fabrication.”
“My conscience is clear,” she said in a statement published by independent news outlet Mediazona. “Because the truth is never guilty.”
Kozyreva began her activism at the age of 17, when she spray-painted an antiwar message on a sculpture outside the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in December 2022. The sculpture symbolized ties between the city and Mariupol, a Ukrainian city heavily bombarded by Russian forces.
Her protests continued despite official pressure. After being fined in early 2024 for social media posts critical of the war, she was expelled from Saint Petersburg State University’s medical faculty. Just one month later, on the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, she taped a Shevchenko verse to a statue of the poet in a city park. The excerpt read:
“Oh bury me, then rise ye up / And break your heavy chains / And water with the tyrants’ blood / The freedom you have gained.”
She was arrested soon after and spent nearly a year in pre-trial detention before being placed under house arrest in February.
Amnesty International’s Russia director, Natalia Zviagina, condemned the verdict as “a chilling reminder of how far the Russian authorities will go to silence peaceful opposition.”
“Daria Kozyreva is being punished for quoting a 19th-century poet, for speaking out against an unjust war, and for refusing to be silent,” Zviagina said. “We demand her immediate and unconditional release, along with all others imprisoned under Russia’s war censorship laws.”
According to Memorial, the Nobel Prize-winning Russian human rights group, Kozyreva is among at least 234 individuals currently behind bars for expressing antiwar views.
Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities have steadily tightened controls on dissent, targeting journalists, artists, and ordinary citizens under sweeping laws designed to criminalize criticism of the war.
Kozyreva’s case—defined by youthful defiance, artistic protest, and political repression—has come to symbolize the deepening risks faced by those who dare to speak out in today’s Russia.
