A Russian court has sentenced sculptor Jacques Tilly to eight years and six months in prison in absentia after he created carnival floats that criticised President Putin and the war in Ukraine. The ruling from Moscow has sparked sharp criticism among Berlin’s political circles.
“Again it shows that dictatorships fear art and culture and therefore restrict freedom of expression” said SPD foreign‑policy politician Ralf Stegner in an interview with the “Rheinische Post”. “It is also a reminder that we must defend these freedoms”.
Janis Ehling, chairman of the Left Party’s federal executive, added that the Russian judiciary appears to be using this show trial to demonstrate that critics abroad are monitored and then prosecuted at home. “It is also a warning to the many Russian citizens in exile” Ehling told the newspaper.
The Left politician urged the German government to grant asylum to every person who has fled Russia in order to protect them from the Putin regime. “If the system reacts so thin‑skinned to a Düsseldorf carnival float, the nerves in Moscow must really be very thin” he said.
