Russian prosecutors urge release of radical artist Pavlensky

In a rare appeal for leniency, Russian prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to release radical artist Pyotr Pavlensky with a hefty fine as he faces prison for torching the doors of the security service's headquarters.

Pavlensky doused a massive wooden door of the FSB security service's Moscow headquarters with gasoline and set it on fire in a November performance he called "Threat".

He has been held behind bars since the performance and has been charged with damaging a cultural site, which carries a maximum jail sentence of three years.

In a surprise move, however, prosecutor Anton Sizov asked for the accused to be fined rather than jailed.

"I call for Pyotr Andreyevich to be found guilty and given the punishment of a fine of two million rubles ($30,400/27,000 euros)," he said.

The prosecutor added that the fine could be reduced to 1.5 million rubles since Pavlensky has two children as dependents, has no criminal record and has been in pre-trial detention for more than six months.

Pavlensky should also compensate the cost of the scorched door, which was valued at 481,461 rubles, a representative of the security forces told the court.

The judge Yelena Gudoshnikova is set to announce her verdict on Wednesday. It is relatively unusual for a judge to issue a punishment harsher than what is requested by prosecutors.

The gaunt 32-year-old artist is known for his intensely physical performances that protest against Russia's restrictions on political freedoms.

He has previously nailed his scrotum to Red Square, sewn his lips together, wrapped himself in barbed wire and chopped off part of his ear.

Pavlensky has refused to testify since the start of the trial, speaking only to journalists and supporters. While his defence team fought for his freedom, he has repeatedly demanded that the judge put him on trial for terrorism.

Sitting in a cage in a courtroom packed with supporters and journalists, Pavlensky cleared his throat and remained silent after the judge invited him to make his final statement before adjourning.

His lawyer Dmitry Dinze asked the court to free Pavlensky and drop the charge against him.

"He is not a criminal element... but a truly acknowledged performance artist," Dinze said.

- Pyotr not likely to pay -

Pavlensky's partner Oksana Shalygina said after the hearing that the prosecutor's request for leniency was "unexpectedly helpful".

"We expected the sentence would go the whole hog: that the prosecutor would ask for three years," Shalygina told AFP.

She suggested that the decision was due to the large amount of publicity surrounding the case and the current state of Russia's relations with the West.

The artist could still end up serving a sentence in an open prison as he is likely to refuse to pay the fine, defence lawyer Dinze told AFP.

"If he doesn't pay the fine, then after a while Pyotr will be detained and the question will come up of replacing the fine with a 'real punishment'," Dinze said.

He said this could mean Pavlensky would have to serve time in a "settlement colony," a kind of open prison in a remote area.

"So far as I know Pyotr isn't going to pay anything. So the struggle continues," Dinze said.

Dressed in shorts, sandals and a grey top, Pavlensky looked melancholy as he sat in the defendant's cage and did not react to the prosecutors' request.

He has consistently argued he should face terrorism charges, likening his case to that of Ukrainian film maker Oleg Sentsov who was convicted of terrorism last year for setting fire to pro-Kremlin party offices in Russia-annexed Crimea.

Pavlensky's partner Shalygina confirmed she expected he would refuse to pay any fine as a matter of principle.

"We don't have that money and it's not clear how they will claim it," she said, adding that even if supporters donated it, Pavlensky "won't want to pay the authorities."

Source: AFP