The court upheld the fine of a Perm artist for souvenirs “similar to Nazi symbols”

The Perm Regional Court did not satisfy the appeal of local artist Sergei Kamenev, who was fined for demonstrating “symbols similar to Nazi ones.” This was reported by OVD-Info with reference to the artist himself.

Previously, the court found woodcarver Kamenev guilty and fined him one thousand rubles under Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code (public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols). The court also ordered the confiscation of three works by Kamenev.

The basis for initiating an administrative case was the examination of an employee of the Perm State Pharmaceutical Academy, who came to the conclusion that the souvenirs made by Kamenev were “pagan swastika symbols, similar to Nazi ones.”

The Perm edition of Periscope reported that the case was opened after a “planned special operation” involving 18 employees of the Perm Center “E”. At the beginning of July they came to the Kupala Nights folklore festival in the village of Yug.

Before the arrest, employees of Center “E” conducted “surveillance and covert audio and video recording of the performance of chants and jumping over the fire” at the festival for three days. “Subsequently, all recordings were deciphered and the texts of Russian folk songs were analyzed for signs of extremism, in particular, for the illegal manifestation of the exceptional qualities of the Russian people, not inherent in other ethnic groups,” the publication writes.

In addition to Kamenev, another festival participant, Alena Cherepanova, was fined for her embroidery pattern.