I’m sitting in a courtroom within the city of Pushkin, 400 miles north-west of Moscow.
Reverse me is the “aquarium” – the glass and metallic field the place the defendant is locked, the courtroom cage that makes anybody on trial in Russia appear like a harmful legal.
Behind the glass is Anna Alexandrova. The 46-year-old hairdresser has been charged with “the general public dissemination of knowingly false details about using the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”.
Put merely, spreading pretend information in regards to the Russian military. The cost pertains to messages and social media posts she has been accused of sending.
The important thing prosecution witness is right here, too – Anna’s neighbour.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine there have been common stories of Russians reporting neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances to the police over alleged anti-war statements.
Denunciations have led to arrests, prosecutions and, in some circumstances, lengthy jail sentences.
However why has snitching develop into commonplace? And what are the implications for Russian society?
To search out out, I’ve spoken to quite a few Russians caught up on this, together with a health care provider knowledgeable on by her affected person and an 87-year-old man who was pressured off a bus and dragged to the police.
Again on the court docket in Pushkin, Anna Alexandrova’s neighbour, Irina Sergeyeva, is sitting two rows in entrance of me along with her mom Natalya. They dwell in the home subsequent to Anna’s.
The 2 households had been as soon as on good phrases however have fallen out. Badly.
Throughout a break in proceedings, I ask Natalya why.
“She began sending [my daughter] footage from the particular navy operation [Russia’s war in Ukraine],” claims Natalya. “Pictures of troopers’ our bodies torn aside, and tanks on hearth.”
“I wrote to the prosecutor’s workplace about this,” Natalya provides. “The photographs make you wish to cry.”
Anna denies sending any of the photographs and messages in query. In line with her lawyer, if convicted, she faces as much as 15 years in jail.
Nevertheless, as I’d uncover, there was extra to the story of Anna and Irina than met the attention.