The court found Eduard Charlotte guilty of publicly insulting the religious feelings of believers.
A Russian court on Friday sentenced singer Eduard Charlotte, who became famous for burning his passport to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to five and a half years in prison. The court found the singer guilty of publicly insulting the religious feelings of believers and “rehabilitating Nazism” in the videos he published on the Internet, Russian media reported. TASR reports this according to a report by AFP.
In June 2023, the twenty-six-year-old Russian singer published a video in which he burned his passport in protest against Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine. In another video, he nailed a photo of Moscow Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supports the Russian invasion, to a cross.
The Moscow Times reports that Charlotte later sent a letter to Kirill asking for his forgiveness. He also promised to act patriotically as a singer from now on. In court, he apologized to Kirill, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials, the newspaper added.
Charlotte left Russia for Armenia after the beginning of the Russian invasion. In November 2023, he was detained at the St. Petersburg airport while trying to return to his homeland. In Russia, since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, dozens of people have been imprisoned for public criticism of it.
