Russian sentenced to eight days in prison for writing “no to war” on ballot paper

The three-day vote over the weekend saw Putin run uncontested for a fifth term in the Kremlin, which will extend his rule until at least 2030.

The election was marked by canceled ballots, with Putin warning in his victory speech that the Russians who did so “must be dealt with”.

The Dzerzhinsky District Court in Saint Petersburg said it had ordered Alexandra Chiryatyeva to be imprisoned for eight days and fined 40,000 rubles (440 euros). It stated that she was guilty of vandalism and “discrediting the Russian armed forces”.

“Chiryatyeva took a voting slip and with a red marker wrote ‘no to war’ on the back before placing it in the ballot box,” the court declared.

The court also reported that Chiryatyeva did so on the last day of voting, when Russia’s opposition groups called for protests against an election in which Putin’s victory was inevitable.

The vote was criticized by the West and independent Russian election observers as one of the most corrupt in post-Soviet history.

Moscow greatly repressed dissent while Russian troops fought in Ukraine.