In a remarkable legal case with far-reaching implications, two Russian individuals, poets Artyom Kamardin and Yegor Shtovba, have been handed extensive prison sentences for composing and circulating poetry that criticized Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
A Moscow court on Thursday sentenced Artyom Kamardin to seven years in prison and Yegor Shtovba to five years and six months for cries of “Shame!” from their supporters in the courtroom, an AFP journalist at the hearing saw.
Russian authorities have detained thousands for simple acts of protest against the offensive in Ukraine, with criticism effectively outlawed.
Kamardin, 33, said his detention was particularly violent, claiming that officers raped him and forced him to film an apology video while threatening his girlfriend.
On the eve of his arrest he had recited his poem “Kill me, militia man!” on a Moscow square where dissidents have been gathering since the Soviet era. Kamardin also shouted offensive slogans against the imperial “New Russia” project aiming to annex the south of Ukraine.
Both were convicted of “inciting hatred” and “calling for activities threatening state security.”
Kamardin told the court he did not know his actions broke the law and asked for mercy.
“I am not a hero, and going to prison for my beliefs was never in my plans,” he said in a statement, posted on his supporters’ Telegram channel.
After the sentencing, his father Yury said: “This is a total outrage!” Around two dozen friends came to support the defendants, along with the poets’ parents and wives.
Kamardin’s wife, Alexandra Popova, was in the crowd. “It is a very harsh sentence. Seven years for poems, for a non-violent crime,” she said, before being detained.
In an interview with AFP in late 2022, she recounted her then boyfriend’s arrest, saying officers threatened her with “gang rape”, hit her and sprayed superglue on her cheeks and mouth.
Meanwhile Kamardin was taken to a separate room, where — as he told his lawyer — he was beaten and raped with a barbell.
|The Guardian
