Defiant Courtroom Protester Sustains Self-Inflicted Injury
In protest against her court-imposed fine, a Russian opposition figure deliberately harmed herself inside the courtroom. According to reports from women's rights organization Soft Force on the Telegram messaging service, activist Olga Suworowa is said to have wounded herself.
A video shared by the group shows Suworowa holding up her bleeding left arm and asserting, "This is my form of protest against this punishment. I have the right to protest." The court had previously fined her 125,000 rubles (approximately 1,200 euros) for supposedly falsely accusing a policeman.
Legal aid group Pervy Otdel also confirmed Suworowa's self-harming act and shared a video of the incident in the courtroom. As per Soft Force, the activist was injured by a policeman in October 2023. She was apprehended at Krasnoyarsk Airport in December 2023 under accusations of fabricating reports about a serious crime. The organization also revealed that she was admitted to a psychiatric clinic for a 30-day examination.
Soft Force was established in 2022, just before Russia's offensive in Ukraine. Its members include activist Julia Galjamina and politician Ekaterina Dunzova, who unsuccessfully attempted to challenge Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in the March presidential election.
Last year, Russian authorities labeled Soft Force as a "foreign agent." Since the onset of Russia's offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, Russian authorities have intensified their crackdown on opposition figures and activists critical of the Kremlin.
Olga Suworowa, the activist from Soft Force, chose to protest her court-imposed fine inside The Kremlin's courtroom by deliberately harming herself. In a video shared by Soft Force, Suworowa was seen expressing her protest inside the courtroom of The Kremlin.
