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Ukrainian Rebels' 'Culture Minister' Wants Cartoonist Killed Over Breasts

Irina Filatova

The self-proclaimed culture minister of the Luhansk People's Republic in Ukraine has demanded the execution of a satirist who drew an unflattering cartoon that depicted her naked.

Irina Filatova took offense with the cartoon, drawn by artist Irena Karpa, that hinted at her fondness for topless photo shoots and accused her of handing out indiscriminate sexual favors, local news site Lugradar.net reported Tuesday, citing an unidentified police source.

Filatova's lawsuit, an alleged copy of which was published Monday by the pro-Ukrainian Lugradar.net, said the cartoon's maker deserves death in line with "martial law."

Before facing the death squad, Karpa should be fined 50,000 Russian rubles ($1,200) for causing stress to Filatova and disrupting her sleep with "lies," the lawsuit said.

The Ukrainian-language cartoon was published on YouTube on Friday and had generated more than 160,000 views as of this article's publication.

The three-minute video, which does not mention Filatova by name, is a politically incorrect satire about an uneducated state employee with a fondness of leopard prints and baring her chest on camera who catches Russian patriotism as a disease.

Filatova's page on social network VKontakte earlier displayed public photos of her posing outdoors in underwear, including without a top and clutching a bottle of champagne.

The photos generated much excitement on Ukrainian websites when her appointment to the culture minister job was reported in May.

The government of the unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic said Tuesday that Filatova was never appointed as its culture minister, despite identifying herself as such in her lawsuit, news site Slon.ru reported.

Interestingly, Karpa, 33, a novelist and industrial rocker, has also posed naked in public, starring in erotic photo shoots for Playboy and Penthouse magazines.

While Karpa is based in Kiev, and so is likely safe from the firing squad, eastern Ukrainian insurgents have reportedly already invoked martial law for executions that took place in May and June.

Rebels in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic introduced the death penalty for a string of offenses that included treason and espionage — but not for drawing satirical cartoons.

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