Is it possible to knock down a tumbler?

Star Wars by artist Slonov: another episode with the participation of the judicial system of the Russian Federation is presented to the general public. Report from the courtroom

Judge Tatyana Lukyanova, having heard on January 23 the criminal case of the artist Vasily Slonov on the complaint of lawyer Sergei Bol against the verdict, left it unchanged. A miracle did not happen in the appellate instance of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court. As the chairman of the court, Nikolai Fuga, warned the other day, saying (not on this specific occasion, but in general): “The Russian judicial system does not imply acquittals.”

In September last year, the Sovetsky District Court of Krasnoyarsk sentenced Slonov, who had been under house arrest for 7.5 months at that time, to one year of correctional labor, 15% of his salary as state income and the destruction of two of his works - tumbler dolls. The artist was found guilty of publicly displaying extremist symbols: eight-pointed stars on the rounded shoulders of vaneks. The prosecutor's office asked for this to be given the “designation of the AUE movement” (“The prisoner way of life is one”, recognized as extremist and prohibited in the Russian Federation) not correctional labor (essentially deduction from wages), but forced labor (in fact, the same imprisonment, stay in the correctional center of the Federal Penitentiary Service ), and not a year, but two.

The artist immediately announced that he would appeal the verdict. At the appeal, he is wearing a sweater with stars, only five-pointed ones, laying out in front of him books that are now on sale, on the cover of which there are eight-pointed stars, according to the state newspeak - no longer Christmas, but extremist, awish. Also next to Slonov is a tumbler. Similar to the two that were captured from him and will now be destroyed. And similar to the very first one, which is located in Moscow’s Ostozhenka, in the collection of contemporary art of one of the star Russian TV presenters (by the way, he sent a bewildered letter in defense of the artist and art - what’s the point). The tumbler brought before the regional court has the same tattoos, only the stars on his shoulders are covered with a plaster.

The court hearing begins with the ringing of the tumbler. That will be the end of it. Vasily says thoughtfully, to nowhere, during a break:

“Today in the corridors of the court it was not the shackles rattling, it was the tumbler rocking and clanking.

In the houses along the shackled path ( it runs through Krasnoyarsk, on both banks - A.T. ), residents dream of horrors. My neighbors are annoyed by the jingling of the vaneks.

The main arguments of the defense and the artist: the decision of the Supreme Court to consider from now on the star of Bethlehem (also known as the star of the Magi, also known as the Virgin Mary star, also known as the “wind rose”) as an extremist symbol has not been published anywhere in the public domain. The verdict was based on a certain copy, not certified and obtained, as it was said, “as a result of operational investigative activities.” This decision was addressed not to the residents of the country, but to the Ministry of Justice, which was supposed to include the symbols on the prohibited list, but neither the artist nor the lawyer discovered this. But there are plenty of books and films everywhere showing extremist stars. And Slonov was convicted. What is this if not the selective application of a law, a law to which the people of the country have no access? The examination carried out does not stand up to any criticism; not assessed by specialists.

Next. In the fall of 2023, Slonov was first issued a fine for playing a convict tumbler at an exhibition and sale in the lobby of the Krasnoyarsk Novotel hotel. And then the same criminal case appeared “on the fact of demonstrating extremist symbols by a person who had already been subjected to administrative punishment” - for the fact that the image of this tumbler remained on the Internet.

However, when seizing the tumbler for the first time, the police clearly saw QR codes on all products, directly leading to their images on the Internet.

But the eschniks, according to Slonov, committed a provocation, deliberately hid these links, they were not noticed, in order to then initiate a criminal case for repeated demonstration of symbols. Thus, this “substitution of real work,” according to both the artist and his lawyer, artificially forms the reporting of the fight against extremism.

The prosecutor at the court hearing, in essence, only said that the decision to recognize the AUE ( we emphasize: “the AUE movement”, there is not a word about symbolism. - A.T. ) as extremist was published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta ( this is not disputed by anyone , this is a known fact. - A. T. ), and Slonov, for example, might not have known about his violation of the law for the first time, administrative. But after that I couldn’t help but know. Nevertheless, I got caught again.

Lawyer Bol stated that he and the state prosecutor have different ideas about the rule of law.

In the last word, the artist Slonov outlined in detail hisepistolary affair with the prosecutor general’s office and the regional prosecutor’s office (it will undoubtedly be continued), and read out his last letter to the prosecutor general, where he indicates that for four months now the regional prosecutor’s office has not responded to him, and books and films with extremist stars (“Gentlemen of Fortune”, “The Thief”, “The Boy’s Word”, etc.) are still in free access:

— I draw attention to the criminal inaction of the prosecutor’s office of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, I ask you to use the entire range of prosecutorial response measures available to you. This bacchanalia with the demonstration of extremist symbols must be stopped!

Vasily Petrovich finished his speech like this:

— By making extremists out of artists, you are making yourselves, dear court and dear prosecutor, criminals. After all, what happens?

I appeal to the regional prosecutor pointing out extremist manifestations, and the regional prosecutor has not responded for four months. I'm looking forward to the verdict. I propose that we jointly dismiss the prosecutor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The result is clear.

The courthouse under Fuga's management is undergoing permanent renovations. Under Soviet rule, it was a house of political education, and it was lined with natural granite and marble. Now these slabs have been removed and covered with the most nondescript porcelain tiles and aluminum composite panels. Architect Anton Shatalov says : “...without any commissions, the building of the regional court was faced with cheap porcelain tiles, which not a single employee of this building would ever put in their bathroom […] in the coming years, Krasnoyarsk residents and guests of the city will admire this tile with a repeating pattern and the condos that were never hidden from the façade.”

Probably, such a reconstruction reflects, among other things, the renovation of the internal content of justice.

One of the wittiest contemporary artists, Slonov, is not about barricades, not about the front. This is a carnival. Fountain Man. Perhaps because today irony and burlesque work more effectively than tragedy and drama. For Slonov, as he says, the main thing is that he and the people around him have fun. “I’m interested in a personal celebration.” “Life is a difficult thing, so you need to surround yourself with what makes you happy.”

“In Russian contemporary art, he played the same role of a predictor as Vladimir Sorokin in literature” (critic Anton Khitrov). “If Slonov had been appointed chief artist of the Olympics, his souvenir products would have enriched the state treasury no less than Yakut diamonds. However, by 2014, the sense of humor was finally excluded from the list of traditional values ​​of the Russian Federation. […] the mockery of Russianness, which is always imagined by censors from above and below, is not even a trace in Slonov’s art; on the contrary, this many-sided Russianness is manifested in its non-obvious, festive and cheerful essence” ( critic Anna Tolstova).

His article provided for up to four years in prison. And the meaning of all the trials against Slonov was the same - to force him to now look around and follow the context. It would seem that they only gave me a year of corrections - he bounced back miraculously, cross himself and live. Perhaps the result suits him physically, but not metaphysically. Slonov has an absolutely free worldview. And it is now obvious that he will fight for his freedom and right to creativity. The trials we have seen are just the beginning.

That's why Vanka-Vstanka. To stand.