Coordinator for Navalny’s Arkhangelsk office facing criminal pornography charges over ‘Rammstein’ video
The coordinator of Alexey Navalny’s Arkhangelsk office, Andrey Borovikov, is facing charges for the criminal distribution of pornography. He could now face between two and six years in prison.
As Navalny’s Arkhangelsk office reported on Twitter, officers searched Borovikov’s apartment on the morning of September 29, and seized all of his devices. Afterwards, he was taken in for questioning and placed under a recognizance not to leave.
Borovikov told MBX Media that the criminal case was brought against him over a video clip of a song by the German band Rammstein, which he posted among his personal videos on the social networking site VKontakte several years ago.
“They’re charging me [because] I, on January 19, 2014, six and a half years ago, posted a clip of the Rammstein video for the song ‘Pussy.’ The clip is allegedly pornographic. I don’t have this clip in my videos now, I don’t even remember when this was,” the activist explained.
In September 2019, Andrey Borovikov became the third person convicted under the so-called Dadin article. He was sentenced to 400 hours of community service for repeatedly violating the rules on public gatherings.
Article 212.1 of the Russian Criminal Code
This article was added to the Russian Criminal Code in 2014. It outlines criminal liability for a fourth violation of the rules on public gatherings in a 180 day period, which is punishable by a fine, correctional or mandatory labor, or up to five years in prison. In 2015, activist Ildar Dadin became the first person to be convicted under this article — he was sentenced to three years in prison, but had his sentence revoked in 2017.