Overview
- The Basmanny District Court in Moscow on Thursday found Tilly guilty in absentia of violating religious feelings and spreading false information about the Russian military, with Judge Konstantin Otschirow reading the verdict.
- The sentence totals eight years and six months in prison, a fine of about €2,000, and a four-year work ban.
- Prosecutors focused on his satirical parade floats about Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, including a 2024 float that depicted Putin and Patriarch Kirill in a sexual act.
- Tilly mocked the ruling and vowed to keep working, while Germany’s ambassador and other officials condemned the case as an attack on free expression that reflects Russia’s use of post‑2022 speech laws against critics of the war.
- Germany will not extradite him, but an Interpol notice could expose him to arrest when traveling in countries that hand suspects to Russia.