A court in Paris sentenced actionist Pyotr Pavlensky to six months in prison for publishing an intimate video of former mayoral candidate Benjamin Griveaux, Le Monde and BFM report.
The artist will serve his sentence with an electronic bracelet (since confinement in a cell is not used for punishments up to one year). The court also deprived Pavlensky of civil and family rights for three years.
The actionist's friend Alexandra de Taddeo was given a suspended six-month prison sentence for possessing a video recording and participating in its distribution. Both were also ordered to pay Griveaux 15 thousand euros in compensation and five thousand euros for legal costs. Pavlensky said that he would not appeal the decision.
The actionist and his 29-year-old girlfriend were detained on February 15 and 16, 2020, respectively. They were accused of violating privacy and distributing intimate materials without consent. A few days later, both were released under judicial control.
After publishing videos and screenshots of personal messages in early February 2020, Benjamin Griveaux withdrew from the election and filed a police report. Pavlensky called the publication of the video an “art project” and emphasized that he did this to expose the “hypocrisy” of the candidate for mayor of Paris, who positioned himself as a defender of family values.
In October 2017, Pyotr Pavlensky set fire to the entrance to the Bank building France. The artist called this action an attempt to “revive revolutionary France.” Later, the actionist and his ally Oksana Shalygina were detained and sent to prison near Paris. In January 2019, a court in Paris sentenced Pavlensky to a year of real and two years of suspended imprisonment. Taking into account the 11 months already served in custody, the court did not take him into custody.