ARKHANGELSK, Russia -- A court in Russia has reinstated the prison sentence of an associate of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, reversing an appeal court decision that ordered a retrial of Andrei Borovikov for “distributing pornography” by sharing a video by the German rock band Rammstein.
A court in Russia's northwestern city of Arkhangelsk ruled on April 1 that the 27-month prison sentence handed to Borovikov in 2021 must be reinstated. It did not disclose the reasoning behind the decision.
Borovikov was initially sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in April 2021 after a court found him guilty of distributing a video clip from the Rammstein song "Pussy,” which was deemed to be pornographic by Russian authorities though it was not officially banned. The prison term was later trimmed by three months.
Earlier this year, a court of appeals struck down the sentence and sent the case back for retrial.
Amnesty International has called the case "utterly absurd," saying that Borovikov was being “punished solely for his activism, not his musical taste.”
Borovikov is an eco-activist and a former coordinator of one of Navalny's regional offices.
Many of Navalny’s associates and supporters have left Russia in recent months amid a crackdown by the Kremlin on those around Russian President Vladimir Putin's most-vocal critic.
Last June, the Moscow City Court designated all organizations linked to Navalny as extremist, preventing people associated with the anti-corruption campaigner and his network of regional offices across Russia from seeking public office.
The music video posted by Borovikov in 2014 came to the authorities’ attention in 2020 when a former volunteer at his office informed the police. Amnesty International said it suspected the volunteer was employed as an agent provocateur to help fabricate the case.
Rammstein guitarist Richard Kruspe expressed his support for Borovikov after his sentence was handed down.