The prosecutor has requested a long sentence for comedian Ostanin.

At a Moscow court hearing, the prosecution requested a five-year, 11-month prison sentence and a 300,000-ruble fine for Yeysk stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin. The maximum sentence under the extremism charge is six years in prison.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," at the end of December, the prosecutor's office approved the indictment against Yeysk stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin*, who made a joke about a legless disabled man. A charge of insulting religious feelings, elements of which were found in another of the comedian's performances, was added to the charge of inciting hatred or enmity. On January 12, the court extended Ostanin's pretrial detention for six months, and on January 17, it was announced that his bank accounts had been frozen. According to the prosecution, Ostanin "created an organized criminal group to develop and produce humiliating short performances." He pleaded not guilty.

At today's hearing in the case of Artemy Ostanin in the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow, the parties presented evidence and then moved on to oral arguments.

At the request of the comedian's defense, his fiancée, Valeria Naumova, testified in court. She stated that Ostanin wrote all of his routines himself and that performers on the show "Standup in 60 Seconds" are selected randomly. Answering the prosecutor's question, Naumova confirmed that Ostanin addressed "politics and LGBT** issues" in his routines, and also stated that she loves the defendant and plans to marry him. Before the break, as she and the other audience members were leaving the courtroom, Naumova smiled at her fiancé, but a bailiff immediately rebuked her: "No need to smile. The man is behind bars, you should be crying," Mediazona reports*.

At the beginning of the defendant's interrogation, Artemy Ostanin again denied all charges. He then recounted how he was detained at the Minsk airport in March 2025, how security forces took him from the airport and beat him in the woods, cut his hair with a knife, and "threatened to slit his throat with the same knife." The judge interrupted the comedian's performance at this point and rebuked his lawyer when he asked him not to interrupt his client.

Ostanin noted that initially, the charge of incitement to hatred only named him personally, but then "an organized group" emerged. He recounted the circumstances of his appearance on the show with the joke about the disabled man, reiterating that he "didn't insult anyone." However, after this performance, footage of which circulated online, he began receiving threats from readers of pro-government propaganda channels.

"The case is completely and utterly fabricated," Ostanin emphasized, reiterating that he writes his own jokes, and the prosecution's claim "about a group of people is complete nonsense." He also added that the charge of insulting religious feelings only appeared in the case nine months later, with the defendant suggesting that the investigation was "playing it safe."

According to Ostanin, he delivered the joke about Jesus Christ in November 2022 at a solo concert and only later published the recording online. During the discussion of this episode, the judge asked the comedian about his education; Ostanin replied that he is a religious scholar by education and has a "more than" sufficient understanding of religion. Answering the judge's question about the awards, the comedian mentioned the award from the Governor of Primorsky Krai."

* are included in the register of foreign agents.

** The "LGBT movement" is recognized as extremist in Russia.

***The activities of Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.