The Moscow City Court upheld Artemy Ostanin's sentence.
The appeal against the sentence of stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin from Yeysk has been dismissed, and his sentence has been upheld.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," during the appeal hearing against the sentence of comedian Artemy Ostanin, who was convicted of jokes about a disabled person and Jesus Christ, the prosecutor's office demanded that his sentence be increased by two months. Ostanin was sentenced on February 4 to five years and nine months in prison.
A criminal case against stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin from Yeysk was opened after a performance in which he joked about a disabled person without legs. Investigators interpreted his words as an insult to a participant in a military operation, but Ostanin himself claims he was joking about a simple beggar. During questioning, he apologized for his joke. In his closing statement at a Moscow court hearing, Ostanin denied the charges and called the victims in the case "professional informers," but apologized to those who might have been offended by his remarks.
The Moscow City Court refused to change Artemy Ostanin's sentence, upholding his conviction for inciting hatred. A fine of 300,000 rubles, imposed on Ostanin for insulting religious feelings, was also approved, the "Word to the Defense" project reported.
Artemy Ostanin's lawyer stated during the hearing that the defendant's and defense witnesses' testimony had disappeared from the trial court record. The defense's requests to postpone the hearing until March 12 were denied, and the court gave Ostanin only 15 minutes to prepare his statement.
When the defendant began speaking, the court interrupted him, asking him "not to talk about anything that is not related to the criminal case." The comedian again recalled that he was tortured during his arrest in Belarus and that he was not allowed to say goodbye to his grandmother, who died shortly after the news of his arrest and the security forces' visit to her home.
Ostanin also noted that he was added to the register of terrorists and extremists even before the verdict. He called the three-judge panel that heard the case on appeal "Stalin's troika."
The "Caucasian Knot" also reported that in June 2025, human rights activists recognized Artemy Ostanin as a political prisoner. The "Caucasian Knot" published a report entitled "The Main Thing About the Beating and Arrest of Comedian Artemy Ostanin".