The trial of Andrey Borovikov, found guilty last year of “production and distribution of pornography” after sharing the x-rated video for Rammstein's 2009 single Pussy on Russian social media network VKontakte, is to return to court.
Borovikov, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was originally sentenced to 2.5 years in prison by Lomonosovsky District Court. In the latest development, a Russian appeals court has cancelled the prison sentence, although Borovikov will remain incarcerated while the new trial is held.
“The case against Andrei Borovikov is utterly absurd," said Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director, at the time of sentencing. "It is blatantly obvious that he is being punished solely for his activism, not his musical taste.”
Borovikov was formerly the coordinator of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s regional headquarters in his hometown of Arkhangelsk, northwestern Russia, and regularly participated in protest actions in the town.
“The prosecution of Andrei Borovikov is a mockery of justice, and we call for all charges against him to be dropped," Zviagina continued. "The Russian authorities should be focusing on turning around the spiralling human rights crisis they have created, not devising ludicrous new ways of prosecuting and silencing their critics.”
Other critics of Borovikov's sentence include the Free Russia Federation, and Rammstein guitarist Richard Kruspe, who said, “The harshness of this sentence is shocking. Rammstein have always stood up for the freedom of art as a guaranteed basic right of all people.”
Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann, who is popular in Russia and performed in Moscow's Red Square last summer, has not publicly commented on the case.
