Overview
- A Moscow court has set a new revision hearing for Tuesday at 09:30 Moscow time to revisit the April in‑absentia case against German satirist Jacques Tilly.
- In April Tilly was convicted in his absence and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison and fined €2,164 for alleged injury to religious feelings and spreading false information about the Russian armed forces.
- German officials notified Tilly of the new date through the Federal Foreign Office but Tilly says he does not know who lodged the revision or what motivated it.
- Russian prosecutors say the case stems from a Düsseldorf Rosenmontag float that lampooned President Vladimir Putin, the war in Ukraine and Patriarch Kirill, and Tilly declined legal representation in Moscow to avoid legitimising the proceedings.
- The development has drawn sharp criticism from German carnival groups and politicians and highlights how Russian laws on religion and 'false' information are being used to pursue foreign critics, with the next hearing likely to show whether Moscow will press enforcement or change course.