Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky sentenced to six months in prison

Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski was sentenced, Wednesday October 11, to six months in prison by the Paris criminal court for having recorded and distributed, without his consent, images of a sexual nature of the former government spokesperson , Benjamin Griveaux, in February 2020. His sentence has been adjusted, he will wear an electronic bracelet. His partner, Alexandra de Taddeo, who had a brief relationship with the former government spokesperson in 2018, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence for having kept the videos but also for having participated in their dissemination, which she contested.

The Russian artist, known for extreme performances in Russia and a refugee in France since 2017, had defended this broadcast as being his “eighth subject-object art event”invoking the “artistic freedom”. He then used his right to silence during the hearing. The prosecution, for its part, considered that “any action cannot be committed in the name of freedom of expression”.

Then a candidate for La République en Marche for mayor of Paris, Benjamin Griveaux abandoned the campaign on February 14, 2020, castigating “despicable attacks involving [sa] private life”. Three and a half years later, the trial was held in the absence of Benjamin Griveaux, 45, who abandoned politics.