Bard and Smolny College Graduate Released from Russia in Historic Prisoner Swap

OSUN is pleased to announce that Alexandra “Sasha” Skochilenko, Bard and Smolny College class of 2017, was released together with other political prisoners incarcerated in Russia. Skochilenko had been imprisoned since March 2022 for the act of placing anti-war leaflets, disguised as price tags, on goods in a grocery store in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The release was part of a larger prisoner swap between Russia, the United States, and several European countries.

Under Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Skochilenko was sentenced to seven years in a Russian penal colony for “knowingly spreading false information about the Russian Army.” A case study prepared by Sofia Semenova, a Bard College Human Rights major (and former student at Smolny College) for the Open Society University Network documents the harsh conditions of Skochilenko’s imprisonment and its effects on her physical and mental health. It also examines the questionable evidence and processes used to prosecute her case, arguing that during Skochilenko’s trial, the principles of adversarial process and equality between the prosecution and the defense were constantly violated. 

Skochilenko is a musician and advocate for mental health awareness. She graduated in Sociology and Anthropology from the former Smolny College/Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Saint Petersburg in a long-running dual degree program between Saint Petersburg State University and Bard College in New York. (In 2021, the joint program was ended when Bard was the first higher education institution to be named an undesirable organization by the Russian government and banned from operating in Russia). Other notable figures who were released in the 24-person swap this week included American journalist Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan, and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Jonathan Becker, OSUN Vice Chancellor, Bard College Executive Vice President, and Bard’s former Dean for Smolny College, said, “Sasha has demonstrated both the creativity and determination that we hope to see in our graduates. We are profoundly thankful that she is now out of prison, and only hope that others currently incarcerated in Russia for their courageous stand against the ongoing war are also released.”

Ilya Kalinin, of Smolny Beyond Borders and visiting scholar at Bard College Berlin and Humboldt University, said, “Now our graduate, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for replacing price tags in a supermarket with anti-war leaflets containing information about civilians killed in Ukraine, is safe. Two years and almost four months that Sasha spent in a Russian prison are over. I remember well her diploma thesis, dedicated to the mechanisms of state control over children's products on Russian television. And I remember equally well the bitter and ironic postscript to one of her letters to me, written from prison: Sometimes I am not even surprised that such a penitentiary experience fell to my lot. Perhaps I was too fond of Foucault. Now this experience is in the past. We look forward to meeting you, Sasha!”

In her closing statement before sentencing in 2022, Skochilenko said:
If these five pieces of paper are really as dangerous as the state prosecutor claims, then why was this trial initiated at all? So that we could discuss and re-discuss these five theses dozens of times? Even the state prosecutor uttered them — and didn't blush. …(W)hat weak faith our prosecutor has in our state and society if he believes that our statehood and public safety can collapse from five small pieces of paper?"

“On behalf of Bard College, our colleagues at Smolny Beyond Borders, which carries on the legacy of Smolny, and the Open Society University Network, we applaud the release of Skochilenko and express profound gratitude for the great sacrifices she has made in the name of human rights and justice,” said Becker.

Post Date: August 1, 2024