Building a State of Fear in "Extremist"

"On November 16, 2023, Sasha Skochilenko, a thirty-three-year-old artist, poet, and musician, stood in court to give what is known in the Russian judicial system as the "last word"-final remarks of the accused before the judge delivers a verdict. Skochilenko, from inside a metal cage, where defendants are confined during courtroom hearings, said her case was so "strange and ridiculous" that it felt like an April Fools' joke, as if "confetti will start falling from above.""

""Even though I am behind bars, I am freer than you," Skochilenko tells the judge. "I can make my own decisions and say what I think." She adds, "Maybe that is why the state fears me and others like me so much and keeps me in a cage like a dangerous animal.""

"Nearly two years earlier, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Skochilenko had replaced the price tags in a St. Petersburg supermarket with various antiwar messages: "The Russian Army bombed an art school in Mariupol where about 400 people were seeking shelter," and "Putin has been lying to you from the television screen for 20 years. The result of these lies is our willingness to accept war and senseless deaths.""

Sasha Skochilenko delivered final courtroom remarks on November 16, 2023, speaking from inside a metal cage and calling her case "strange and ridiculous." Nearly two years earlier she had swapped price tags in a St. Petersburg supermarket for antiwar messages that named the bombing of a Mariupol art school and accused Putin of long-term deceit. A shopper reported the altered tags to police, triggering an investigation that used surveillance footage. A short film titled "Extremist" reimagines the incident and frames it as both evidence of state cruelty and an example of personal bravery in opposition to the regime.

Read at The New Yorker