Install

Get the latest updates as we post them — right on your browser

. Last Updated: 05/24/2013

Voina Cleared of Police Stunt

ST. PETERSBURG — A criminal case against the art group Voina over a stunt where they overturned police cars has been dropped by investigators.

Voina artists Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolayev were arrested in Moscow in November last year and charged with criminal mischief motivated by hatred of the social group “police,” and spent three months in a pretrial prison in St. Petersburg. They were released on bail partly paid for by British graffiti artist Banksy, who donated 80,000 pounds to the group in February.

According to the ruling, a scan of which was posted on Voina’s web site last week, the artists’ actions “do not contain signs of crimes governed by Article 213 [motivated by hatred of a specific social group].”

As a result, Nikolayev no longer faces any charges and the group will get back their bail money. Voina has already said that the group will use the money to help other political prisoners.

But Vorotnikov and his wife Natalya Sokol remain under investigation for their part in a Strategy 31 rally on March 31. They have been charged with assaulting a police officer and insulting a police officer, respectively.





Comments via Facebook



Also in Arts & Ideas

Music Forecast: It Will be a Hot Summer

Some time ago, the only bands touring Russia were those popular at least a decade earlier. And even when you bought a ticket, there was still a good chance the concert would be canceled a couple of weeks in advance, with security cited as the main reason. Those days are gone.

Czechs Turn Secret Soviet Bunker Into Museum (Photos)

The mighty underground cement bunker, ordered by the Soviet leadership under Nikita Khrushchev, is one of three such places in the former Czechoslovakia, and a dozen across Soviet Warsaw Pact allies, but the only one believed still to be intact.

Lavrov Blasts 'Vote Theft' at Eurovision

Russia's point man on Syria and on its relations with the U.S. on Tuesday turned his attention toward a subject close to Russian hearts - alleged vote theft at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Depardieu Defends Chechnya After Boston Bombing

French actor Gerard Depardieu, visiting Grozny to film a new movie, said the ethnic Chechen brothers accused of the Boston bombing had been raised American and that residents of Chechnya were not to blame.

Kings of Convenience Bring Norway to Moscow

Many years after "Abba" and "Ace of Base" rose to prominence, and following the turn of the millennium, Scandinavian artists once again began to leave their permanent mark on pop culture.

Soviet Rock's Shadowy Undertones Endure

During the mid 1980s, Konstantin Kinchev, a charismatic rocker, pitched his voice against the Soviet system, only to be labeled as a "fascist" by the Communist press.



print




Most Read
advertising
Moscow Directory
DELIKATNY PEREEZD

Local & intercity moves...

LA BOTTEGA

Over 170 wines on the wine list, mainly from Italy, France and Spain...