German artist Jacques Tilly faces an appeal trial in Moscow next week, just two months after he was sentenced in absentia to over eight years in prison over his floats depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The German Foreign Office informed Tilly that a hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, he told dpa on Friday. He does not know whether the prosecution or the defence applied for the appeal.
In April, a court in Moscow ruled that Tilly was guilty of offending religious feelings and spreading false information about the Russian armed forces through his displays in Dusseldorf’s Carnival parade.
Tilly repeatedly satirized Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Ukraine war. He also mocked Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.
Tilly said he assumed the matter had been settled with the initial verdict. He has not yet been informed by the Moscow court and has had no contact with the defence team.
The artist said that he had to live with the conviction, and was managing that quite well.
“I’m not particularly interested in things I have no influence over,” said Tilly. “I have no room for manoeuvre.”
It is part and parcel of a satirist’s job that one occasionally receives very harsh reactions, he explained. “That’s part of the deal. I take it in my stride – how else am I supposed to take it?”
