The Dzerzhinsky District Court of St. Petersburg arrested in absentia the leader of the Voina art group, Oleg Vorotnikov, who is accused of hooliganism, as well as using violence against a police officer. The artist, who had previously been released from jail on bail, stopped coming for interrogations. His lawyer plans to appeal the arrest decision.

At the trial, a representative of the investigation stated that the Voina activist did not live at the address where he agreed to live after being released on bail, and also did not appear for interrogations or in court. The day before, Oleg Vorotnikov was put on the international wanted list. “Oleg Vorotnikov is given a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of two months, starting from the date of his actual detention,” the judge said.

The artist’s lawyer, Anastasia Yakimovskaya, told Kommersant that she intends to appeal this decision. “Oleg Vorotnikov complied with all requirements to appear until an illegal decision was made to detain him, which was not formalized in any way,” said Ms. Yakimovskaya. According to her, the artist came for another interrogation and there he accidentally heard that he was going to be arrested. After this, the leader of “War” decided to go into hiding.

Let us remind you that the art group “War” is engaged in scandalous performances, often bordering on hooliganism. In 2011, the group received the Innovation Award for contemporary art for the best work of visual art, “A Member Captured by the KGB,” which the jury considered a giant phallus painted on the Liteiny drawbridge in St. Petersburg opposite the FSB building.

Last November, members of the group held a “Palace Coup” action in St. Petersburg, during which they overturned several police cars, and a law enforcement officer was sleeping in one of them. A criminal case was opened under the article “Hooliganism”, and members of the art group Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolaev spent several months in a pre-trial detention center. They were later released on bail of 300 thousand rubles. everyone, and the money for this was given by the famous foreign graffiti artist Banksy.

However, on March 31, 2011, Oleg Vorotnikov took part in an unauthorized opposition rally. According to investigators, during the event the artist and his wife Natalya Sokol attacked the police. As a result, criminal cases were initiated under the articles “Hooliganism”, “Insult” and “Use of violence against a representative of the authorities”. Later, all the artist’s affairs were combined into one production. His defense does not agree with this decision and will challenge it. “Oleg Vorotnikov complied with all the conditions of release in the first case, but they were going to arrest him in the second, so he had to go into hiding,” the lawyer explained her position. The defense will also challenge the court's decision to confiscate the bail in favor of the state.

Another member of the scandalous art group, Leonid Nikolaev, appeared in court on July 22 and ultimately remained free. Previously, the investigation requested the seizure of the bail and the detention of the artist, stating that Mr. Nikolaev ignored calls to the police. However, at the trial, the investigator was unable to document the fact that subpoenas were sent to the artist. Mr. Nikolaev himself told the judge that the investigation had his address and telephone number, but no one contacted him.

Alexander Chernykh, Alexander Voronov

The leader of "War" was arrested in absentia