A resident of Smolensk, Taisiya Osipova, the wife of an activist of the Other Russia party, Sergei Fomchenkov, was sentenced in December 2011 for selling drugs to ten years in prison. She became the first person involved in the "list of political prisoners" to obtain a reconsideration of the case.
Taisiya Osipova's political activities began in 2000, when she became a member of the National Bolshevik Party, created by Eduard Limonov. Taisiya was a correspondent for the party newspaper General Line. At this time, she met her future husband Sergei Fomchenkov.
In 2003, Osipova, during a speech by Viktor Maslov, the governor of the Smolensk region, hit him in the face with flowers, shouting: "You are fattening at the expense of ordinary people!" For this incident, she was sentenced to one year suspended imprisonment on charges of "violence against a government official."
Osipova's lawyer appealed the verdict, but the result was disappointing. After the second consideration of the case, Osipova was also convicted under the article "hooliganism" and received a half-year suspended sentence with a two-year suspended sentence with a ban on changing her place of residence.
In 2005, the couple had a daughter, Katrina, and Taisia began to raise her, and Sergei left Smolensk for Moscow in order to continue active political activity.
In November 2010, Osipova was detained on charges of possession and distribution of drugs. During a search in her house, they found nine grams of heroin and a labeled 500-ruble note. Based on the results of the forensic narcological examination, Taisiya was diagnosed with "second stage opium addiction."
The Other Russia party activists are sure that Taisia was convicted in order to put pressure on Fomchenkov. The convict claimed that during the search she was asked to testify against her husband, and when she refused, drugs were planted on her. On December 29, 2011, Taisiya Osipova was sentenced to ten years in prison.
In February 2012, she was included in the “list of political prisoners,” which was subsequently considered by the Prosecutor General. After a reconsideration of the case, in August 2012 Osipova was found guilty on two counts of drug trafficking (instead of four) and the sentence was changed to eight years in a general regime colony.
