The Central District Court of Krasnoyarsk fined artist Vasily Slonov one thousand rubles for an installation in the form of a tumbler with imitation of prison tattoos. The decree published on the court's website states that the toy itself will be destroyed.
The protocol on the demonstration of prohibited symbols (Part 1 of Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) against Slonov was drawn up on October 4. The court considered it on the same day. The resolution states that on the third floor of the Krasnoyarsk Novotel hotel there was a cage, inside which the artist placed a tumbler with “eight-pointed stars with blue and white rays, which are symbols of the Prison Criminal Unity movement.”
Art object was part of the exhibition and sale of souvenirs GULAG-TOYS. On his Facebook, Slonov published a photo of the toy, which became the reason for drawing up a protocol. In addition to the eight-pointed stars, the Mother of God, the Orthodox Church, a barbed wire fence, a camp guard tower, as well as the inscriptions “Love in the eyes” and “Save me, a sinner, from the order of this place” are drawn on it in blue ink.
Tumbler. Photo: Vasily Slonov’s personal Instagram account
In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, recognized AUE as an extremist organization and banned it. The prosecutor's office deciphered the abbreviation AUE as «Prisoner Criminal Unity» and called it a «youth movement of an extremist orientation.»