Russian court releases activist jailed over Putin mannequin stunt
Moscow — A Russian court has reduced the two-year prison sentence of an activist convicted of "hooliganism" for taping a mannequin dressed as President Vladimir Putin to a lamp post. The case has widely been seen as another example of the Russian government bending laws to silence criticism.
Russians Alexander Shabarchin and Danila Vasilyev were arrested in 2018 after they taped the mannequin, sporting a Putin mask and striped prisoner jumpsuit, to a lamp post in the city of Perm. On the mannequin's forehead, the activists wrote "liar," and they attached a sign reading "war criminal." They then filmed the reactions of passers-by and uploaded the video to YouTube.
Shabarchin, 22, was sentenced to two years in prison in August. Vasilyev received a one-year suspended sentence.
Following an appeal, the Perm regional court on Thursday reduced Shabarchin's punishment to a two-year suspended sentence, court spokeswoman Alyona Popova told French News agency AFP. He was released from prison the same day. Vasilyev's punishment was left unchanged, but he was never jailed.
Prominent Russian human rights group Memorial had described Shabarchin as a "political prisoner." London-based Amnesty International called him a "prisoner of conscience," and demanded his immediate release last month, saying the charges against both activists should be dropped completely.
The stunt "falls within the scope of the right to freedom of expression, which Russia has committed to upholding as a party to the international human rights treaties," said Natalia Prilutskaya, Amnesty International's Russia researcher, in a statement posted by the organization online last month.
Putin's government has a long history of using laws and the courts to silence dissent, jailing everyone from political opposition leaders for holding peaceful rallies, to ordinary citizens for posting, or even liking, social media posts that don't fit the government's narrative.
As the court's decision came down in Perm, another activist was arrested in Moscow on Thursday evening for staging a dramatic street art-protest in solidarity with the country's "political prisoners." He had posed half-naked on a large cross near the headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
The activist, identified as Pavel Krisevich, was tied to the cross by fellow activists in raincoats labeled "FSB," who then doused the pavement in front of the staged crucifixion with a liquid that burned harmlessly at a low temperature. They threw papers, symbolizing criminal cases, into the flames.
On Friday, Krisevich was sentenced to 15 days in jail for failing to comply with police orders.
The protest was aimed at drawing attention to the work of the FSB, which is often criticized for opening politically-tinged investigations to pressure dissidents.
