The cassation court deemed the sentence of comedian Ostanin lawful.
The sentence of the stand-up comedian from Yeisk, Artemy Ostanin, who was sentenced to a long term for a monologue about a disabled person and Jesus Christ, remains unchanged.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", comedian Artemy Ostanin was sentenced on February 4 to five years and nine months in prison for jokes about a disabled person and Jesus Christ. During the consideration of the appeal against the sentence, the prosecution demanded to increase his sentence by two months, but the Moscow City Court on March 6 left the sentence unchanged.
A criminal case against stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin from Yeisk was initiated after a performance where he joked about a disabled person without legs. The investigation saw his words as an insult to a participant in a military operation, however, Ostanin himself claims that he joked about an ordinary beggar. During the interrogation, he apologized for his joke. Speaking with his final words at the court session in Moscow, Ostanin rejected the accusations and called the victims in the case "professional informers", but apologized to those who might have been offended by his performance.
The Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow today considered the appeal against the sentence of stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin. Ostanin's defense claimed numerous violations during the consideration of the case in the first instance and in the appellate court.
Lawyer Mikhail Meshcheryakov noted in the appeal that experts found no incitement of hatred towards a group of people in Ostanin's monologues. He also emphasized that the charges against the comedian were unjustifiably aggravated by attributing the feature of an organized group: the video with the joke about Christ was conceived, edited, and published by Ostanin himself, while the monologue about the disabled person in the metro was recorded by the staff of the club where the accusation took place, SOTAvision reports.*
Ostanin himself, speaking in court via video link, demanded to acquit him. He called his persecution “a stain of shame on the entire system of Russian justice.”
“I can only quote Remarque, who wrote about fascist Germany, that the innocent receive the most unjust and cruel punishments. But for some reason, this is being realized in 2026, in a country whose only pride is the victory over the fascists,” his words are quoted by “Mediazona”*.
The cassation court agreed with the decisions of the first and appellate instances, refusing to overturn Ostanin's sentence or mitigate the punishment. In response to this decision, the comedian said: “Thank you for this circus.”
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in June 2025, human rights defenders recognized Artemy Ostanin as a political prisoner. A reference titled "Main about the beating and arrest of comedian Artemy Ostanin" is published on "Caucasian Knot".
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