Taisiya Osipova: Victim of Russian Justice
As the Pussy Riot storm passes out of the public eye somewhat, more press attention is focusing on the case of Taisiya (or Taisia) Osipova, who has been given an eight-year prison sentence – twice that recommended by her prosecutors – on widely contested drugs charges. Osipova is a diabetic, mother of a toddler, and wife of Other Russia member Sergei Fomchenkov, who refused to testify against her husband. Many believe that the case against her is politically motivated. Osipova’s initial sentencing of ten years was overturned by a court in Smolensk in February 2012, after then-President Dmitry Medvedev said that, even if she had been selling drugs as charged, the sentence was too harsh. But her sentence was passed last month, in the same week that the Pussy Riot verdict was handed down (overshadowing this less glamorous case). The Washington Post reviews her case, noting that Russia’s lack of a rule of law allows the authorities to ‘exercise power at a whim […] people such as Ms. Osipova are trod underneath.’