Russia: Activist jailed for eight years for selling drugs amid ‘revenge’ claims
Taisiya Osipova, 28, was sentenced yesterday following a retrial ordered after Dmitry Medvedev, then president and now prime minister, said the ten-year term she received last year was too severe. Opposition figures said the decision was part of Mr Putin’s clampdown on dissent.
“The Osipova sentence is the nightmare that is enveloping all of us,” tweeted Nikolai Polozov, a lawyer for the three members of punk band Pussy Riot who were jailed for two years this month over a protest against Mr Putin in a Moscow church.
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Hide AdOsipova, 28, who has been in jail since 2010, maintains that the drugs were planted on her. “The authorities are simply taking revenge on my wife,” said Sergei Fomchenkov, leader of the opposition group Other Russia. He said his wife would appeal.