On April 19th, 2025, Dayra Kozyreva, a 19-year-old Russian activist, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for publicly opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine. This brutally repressive war has resulted in the deaths of thousands and the devastation of Ukrainian infrastructure and economy. Kozyera was convicted of “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian military by posting Ukrainian poetry in a central square and actively speaking out against the war to an independent media outlet, Sever Realii. 

However, Dayra Kozyerva is no stranger to protest. At just 17 years old, her activist career began when she spray painted a sculpture outside of St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, a sculpture meant to symbolize the unity with a Ukrainian city once devastated by Russian attacks. She wrote, “Murderers, you bombed it. Judases,”. Despite being expelled from St. Petersburg University and fined continuously for online posts about Ukraine, she continued to protest.  

On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, similar to what got her arrested recently, she taped a piece of paper containing lines from Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko to his statue in a local park, the verse classed for breaking chains in the pursuit of freedom; she was quickly arrested and spend almost a year in detention before being placed on house arrest. During her sentencing, she stated. “I have no guilt; my conscience is clear.” 

This sentencing underscores the anger of Russian citizens and the increasingly harsh penalties they face when speaking out against the war. Although all of Kozyreva’s protests were incredibly peaceful, the Russian government criminalized her to the fullest extent under a broad set of laws banning“discrediting”  the military. As the war continues into its third year and Russia poses more attacks on Ukraine, the risk of Russian protests against the war remains increasingly high.  According to Memorial, Kozyreva is one of at least two hundred thirty-four people imprisoned in Russia for anti-war rhetoric. All pleaded not guilty in the cases against them and said it was “one big fabrication.”

The criminalization of peaceful protest and the imprisonment of those in opposition to war is wrong, as not only is nonviolent expression a cornerstone of a just and free society, but it is a human right. The international community must advocate for activists like  Kozyreva in the name of the protection of human rights in Russia and elsewhere, ensuring that calls for peace aren’t met with repression and imprisonment.