Russia: Activist jailed for eight years for selling drugs amid ‘revenge’ claims

A RUSSIAN opposition activist has been jailed for eight years for selling drugs, double the prison term requested by prosecutors in a case her husband said was revenge for the couple’s criticism of the authorities.

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.

Osipova, 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.