Law and disorder: Russian protest artist calls prostitutes as witnesses

The Russian protest artist Pyotr Pavlensky, known for nailing his scrotum to Red Square and setting fire to the doors of the KGB, has shocked yet again: this time by inviting prostitutes to testify on his behalf in the criminal trial against him. Yelena Posadskikh, whose revealing dress caused a stir in Moscow’s Preobrazhensky Court on Wednesday, said on the stand that she works in “sales”. She said she had been approached several weeks ago in a cafe by a Pavlensky’s lawyer, who requested that she watch a video of Freedom, the pro-Ukrainian performance the artist staged in St Petersburg in 2014, which led to his arrest. She was not impressed and told the court that “I don’t see it as art”, the Meduza news agency reported. Two other women were called to the stand and said they think Pavlensky is crazy. According to Meduza, the artist revelled in their testimony and the point he was making: “They are prostitutes whom I paid so that they would come and testify. And it is equivalent to the testimony of other witnesses for the prosecution since they have just as much to do with the case. They have exactly the same motive.”