A German artist known for his carnival floats that satirise politicians has been sentenced in absentia to eight years and six months in jail by a court in Moscow, German media reported Thursday.
Jacques Tilly, head float designer for the Rose Monday carnival parade in the city of Duesseldorf, was convicted of “offending religious feelings and spreading false information about the Russian military”, according to Der Spiegel magazine.
Tilly has designed satirical floats for the Duesseldorf carnival since the 1980s, with many featuring world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The artist’s creations this year included a papier-mache of the Russian president being hit over the head by a face-painted jester marked “satire”.
In previous years, he has depicted Putin taking a bath in blood, and behind bars.
The Moscow trial focused on a 2024 carnival float featuring figures of Putin in uniform and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, engaged in oral sex, according to Der Spiegel.
The court in Moscow ordered Tilly to pay a fine equivalent to around 2,000 euros ($2,300) and banned him from working for four years, the magazine said.
In an interview with the Phoenix TV channel, Tilly, 62, said the verdict would serve as “a little extra motivation” for him, because it showed that “satire hurts, my work is having an effect”.
Although he accepts the verdict on a practical level, “internally, of course, I do not accept it, because Russia is simply not a democratic state and because the whole thing is a farce”, he said.
Tilly said he would continue his work just as before and the verdict “doesn’t affect me as long as… I don’t travel to countries where it could actually become dangerous”.
