A poet was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Moscow court on Thursday for reciting verses against the Ukraine campaign during an anti-mobilization protest last year.
Alongside Yegor Shtovba, 23, Artyom Kamardin, 33, who also participated in the protest, received a sentence of five years and six months.In a courtroom with tight security, the two were visible behind a glass partition.
Kamardin, wearing a smile, recited a poem just before his sentencing, describing poetry as “gut-wrenching” and disliked by those “accustomed to order.”
After the sentence was declared, supporters inside the courtroom voiced cries of “Shame!” and a number of them were taken into custody by police outside the court building, according to an AFP reporter.
Russian authorities have detained thousands for simple acts of protest against the offensive in Ukraine, with criticism effectively outlawed.
Claiming severe brutality during his detention, Kamardin stated that officers raped him, coerced him into recording an apology video, and issued threats against his partner.
The night before his arrest in September 2022, he recited his poem “Kill me, militia man!” on a Moscow square historically frequented by dissidents since the Soviet era.
Additionally, Kamardin shouted offensive slogans against the imperial “New Russia” project, which targets the annexation of the southern areas of Ukraine.
Both were found guilty of charges including “inciting hatred” and “calling for activities threatening state security.”
Kamardin had told the court he did not know his actions broke the law and asked for mercy.
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‘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 told AFP before being taken away by police officers.
Speaking with AFP in late 2022, she recalled her then-boyfriend’s arrest, revealing that officers threatened her with “gang rape,” physically attacked her, and sprayed superglue on her cheeks and mouth.
During this time, Kamardin was taken to a separate room, and according to what he conveyed to his lawyer, he endured beatings and sexual assault with a barbell.
He was coerced into filming an apology video.