A Russian court has overturned the decision to strip Aleksej Moskalev of custody of his 13-year-old daughter after he was found guilty of criticizing authorities.

At the end of March, Moskalev was sentenced to two years in a penal colony for criticizing the authorities. At the same time, he was deprived of parental authority for his 13-year-old daughter, who has been at the center of the case from the start.

About parental rights

Today, Russian human rights organization OVD-Info reports via Telegram that a court has failed to rule in accordance with authorities’ request to strip him of custody of his daughter.

– This is an important moral victory, according to lawyer Vladimir Bilenko OVD-Info.

The case began when, in April 2022, the daughter Masja Moskaleva drew the drawing with the text “No to war” and “Glory over Ukraine”, she and her father were arrested and interrogated by the FSB.

The father was fined 32,000 rubles. Authorities then began mounting a larger criminal case against him under the laws Putin passed following the invasion of Ukraine.

Sentenced

The next day he learned that the police were building a case against him for “discrediting the army”, one of the new laws Putin has passed since the invasion to crack down on critics of the war.

On December 30, the family’s home was raided by the FSB. The girl was taken into custody at a facility in the country.

On March 1, Aleksej Moskalev was arrested again, and since March 2 he has been under house arrest.

At the end of March, he was sentenced to two years in prison in a penal colony. In advance it was known that he had escaped from house arrest, but soon after he was arrested in Belarus.

not black

Independent Russian online newspaper Meduza, now based in Riga, reported on Wednesday that Moskalev’s lawyers cannot reach him – and therefore do not know his whereabouts.

They cite the Mozhem Obyasnit Telegram account, which is run by exiled Russian opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia organization.

– The penitentiary service of Russia and Belarus did not respond to requests from lawyers, said Dmitrij Zakhvatov, one of Moskalev’s lawyers, according to the organization.

The last time they communicated with Moskalev was before he escaped from house arrest.

Wagnerian support

The verdict against Moskalev received a lot of attention, both internationally and in Russia. Since his arrest, several activists have worked to have him released.

However, support for Moskalev did not just come from democracy activists. Nationalist, Putin friend and Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin also got involved in the case.

In a letter to the prosecutor’s office in Tula, the man’s home county in Russia, Prigozhin writes along with two other Wagner commanders that they consider the arrest and sentencing unfair.

– Exploits

In the letter, Prigozhin asks the prosecution to “check the application of the law” in the judgment against Moskalev, and suggests letting lawyers affiliated with Wagner participate in the case.

– Prigozhin’s reaction is particularly ironic, as he was one of the biggest and most ardent supporters of drafting legislation to punish those who “discredit the military”, writes the famous think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in an analysis.

ISW therefore believes that the backlash may be because Prigozhin attempted to exploit the public debate the incident sparked to position both himself and the Wagner Group.