RUSSIA: A stand-up comedian sentenced to 5 years and 9 months in prison
HRWF (30.03.2026) – In early February, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow sentenced comedian Artemy Ostanin to five years and nine months in prison and a fine of 300,000 rubles (more than 3000 euros) on charges of inciting hatred (paragraph “c” of Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code) and insulting the feelings of believers (Part 1 of Article 148 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by “Mediazona”.
His trial against Ostanin began on 12 January 2026, required four hearings and came to an end in February.
The first reason for the criminal prosecution was the comedian’s performance of the monologue of a disabled man without legs, who was blown up by a mine…
Although he did not refer at all to the war in Ukraine, his subliminal message did not escape censorship. For them, it was the public manifestation of anti-war feelings. Activists of the pro-government movement “Call of the People” contended that the comedian was ridiculing a Russian soldier who lost his legs in the war in Ukraine. They denounced him to the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The second reason for his sentence was that he had insulted the feelings of believers because of one of his jokes about Christ. In an imaginery dialogue between Jesus Christ and himself, he was saying “I brought good news to people, and do you know what they did? Well, they crucified me.” This was reported by “Mediazona”
Ostanin pleaded not guilty and insisted on acquittal. He was not followed by the judges.
Ostanin on the run arrested in Belarus and deported to Russia
The comedian was arrested on the border between Russia and Belarus on 18 March 2025. In court, Ostanin said that on the way to Russia, security forces from Belarus stopped his car in the forest, beat him with truncheons, a sandbag and a stun gun. They also cut off his dreadlocks with a knife and threatened to cut his throat.
Ostanin’s lawyer said that he got broken ribs and a fractured spine.
In addition, the Belarusian Siloviki telegram channel published a photo of a shorn comedian with a meat grinder around his neck after the arrest. Probably, the meat grinder was used as a reference to his joke that Murmansk United Russia gave to the mothers of dead soldiers. The meat grinder was a reference to the comedian’s joke (Link to his show on YouTube) that Murmansk United Russia presented meat grinders to the mothers of the dead military on March 8, Woman’s Day.
Joke about a disabled man without legs
https://youtu.be/KqvKODGwtBA?si=Sw6nxCeDNIAbpBmX
Joke about Jesus Christ
https://youtube.com/shorts/lxGW25UXvEE?si=HM88L11aXd3bHjZy
Some comments about the meat grinder metaphor
The comedian plays on this tragic metaphor by saying that lawmakers of Putin’s party (United Russia) in Murmansk decided to give meat grinders to the mothers of fallen soldiers on March 8 (Woman’s Day, a holiday when women in Russia traditionally receive gifts, the equivalent of Mother’s Day in Western Europe). The subliminal message of the comedian is that Putin gives them an instrument he has himself used to send their sons to death.
Its meaning refers to the so-called “special military operation” of Putin and to the mothers of soldiers who died in Ukraine. In a figurative sense, it means that these sons were “thrown into a meat grinder.”
In the photograph below on the right, the comedian wears a meat grinder around his neck. The point is that this image, and the humiliation of the person depicted in it, were the work of officers of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and published on their website.
“The comedian with a meat grinder around his neck”
