"Vladimir Putin, in my opinion, not only sends people to die for nothing but also kills our future."

Elena Abramova, a translator and activist from Russian St.Petersburg, was sentenced to two years in jail for an anti-war poster. She is raising her 16-year-old daughter alone.

Here is an excerpt of Abramova's last statement:

"We are at a point where persecuting a person for not accepting mass deaths no longer seems unacceptable, and aggression itself no longer seems intolerable. It's as if this new horrible reality has become a familiar background. But I am convinced that human life is the highest value on Earth.

What am I accused of? What does our state consider a crime? My love of life? Or that we have nothing to do in a foreign land with weapons in our hands? We have our own land that can and should be developed.

'A world without war! Russia without Putin!' - that's what was written on one of my posters. For me, Putin is a synonym for the word 'war.' Russia is not Putin. Russia is its citizens, in the interests of whom the government should act. Vladimir Putin, in my opinion, not only sends people to die for nothing but also kills our future. It is not enough to spend 30 years in power - you need to immortalize yourself, to inscribe your name in history with someone else's blood. In the minds of many people, Russia is inconceivable without Putin.

When they saw my poster, the representatives of law enforcement said, 'If you don't like Russia, leave.' How can I interpret this? I want to live in my country. I want to defend my right to live in a free and peaceful Russia. It seems unthinkable to me to put a person behind bars just for their views."