A Russian political activist is facing jail on pornography charges after sharing the video for Rammstein’s Pussy.
According to Amnesty International, environmental activist Andrei Borovikov could be sentenced to up to three years in a high security penal colony for “production and distribution of pornography” after posting Rammstein’s infamous 2009 video on Russian social network VKontake.
Borovikov shared the clip in 2014, but Amnesty claim that he is being belatedly charged because he worked as campaign manager for jailed Vladimir Putin opponent Alexei Navalny.
Borovikov was charged in 2020, just a month after Navalny was poisoned by a nerve agent in suspicious circumstances.
“The case against Andrei Borovikov is utterly absurd. It is blatantly obvious that he is being punished solely for his activism, not his musical taste,” said Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director.
Amnesty claim that a “former volunteer” in Borovikov’s office informed the police, after secretly recording a conversation with the activist about the video. They allege that the volunteer was planted by the authorities in order to fabricate a case against Borikov.
Amnesty say that prosecutors subsequently ordered a “a sexological and cultural examination” of the Pussy video, finding it to be of “pornographic nature” and “not containing artistic value.”
“The prosecution of Andrei Borovikov is a mockery of justice, and we call for all charges against him to be dropped,” said Amnesty’s Natalia Zviagina. "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.”
Borovikov’s trial takes place today (April 29) in Lomonosovsky District Court in Arkhangelsk. If found guilty, he could face up three years in a high-security penal colony.
