00:00 This is a comic book by Russian artist Sasha Sokchilenko.
00:06 In it, she explains what depression is and how to support a relative or a friend who suffers from it.
00:14 But now Sasha herself needs support.
00:17 She's been in detention for one and a half years,
00:20 accused of spreading so-called "fake news" about the Russian army.
00:24 Friends, relatives and even people who've never met her are trying to draw attention to her case.
00:30 One of them is Boris Romanov, an activist from St. Petersburg.
00:35 He knows exactly what it's like to be in Sasha's position.
00:39 He was arrested for breaking the same law passed by Russian lawmakers
00:44 in the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
00:47 But Boris managed to escape Russia and is now in Germany.
00:53 I feel a sense of responsibility.
00:59 I was sharing information about political prisoners before.
01:04 Now, since my whole life has been turned upside down because of the arrest
01:08 and I had to leave my country and start over, I feel even more involved.
01:19 Sasha Sokchilenko was arrested in April 2022 for replacing supermarket price tags
01:26 with demands to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
01:29 Prosecutors are seeking an eight-year sentence as punishment,
01:33 which her relatives and friends believe is inhumane.
01:37 I'm just trying not to think about it too much.
01:41 Basically, I'm hoping for a miracle,
01:43 because I know very well that a heavy prison sentence would be a catastrophe for Sasha.
01:50 Sasha's well-being is what her mother is concerned about most.
01:54 The 33-year-old has several illnesses and her health is deteriorating in detention
01:59 due to a lack of medical assistance.
02:02 She'll survive because she is a very strong person.
02:07 But at what cost?
02:09 I just push that thought away because I'm really afraid.
02:14 I still can't see the end of this process.
02:17 In fact, it probably helps me to survive because there is no end in sight.
02:25 But I don't know how it's going to end.
02:29 Even in detention, Sasha continues to draw.
02:33 Friends publish her prison diary on a website.
02:36 They also sent a box of her books to Boris in Germany.
02:40 Most of them have been sold and the money used to pay Sokchilenko's lawyers.
02:45 To continue helping her, Boris now wants to publish her book in Germany.
02:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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