Overview
- A three‑judge Moscow appellate panel rejected a defense complaint and on Tuesday upheld the April in‑absentia conviction that sentenced Düsseldorf satirist Jacques Tilly to eight and a half years for allegedly spreading false information about the armed forces and offending religious feelings.
- Tilly’s court‑appointed lawyer filed the revision arguing that investigators never ordered a psychiatric assessment to test his criminal responsibility and that this procedural gap should void the verdict, but the court dismissed that claim.
- Tilly says he was never notified by the Russian court and had no contact with his Russian defense, and German embassy staff observed the proceedings in Moscow.
- Berlin condemned the decision as an attack on artistic freedom and called the trial an 'absurd spectacle,' while authorities warned Tilly he faces travel risks if Russia seeks an Interpol notice or pursues extradition in countries that cooperate with Moscow.
- The case highlights a pattern of Russian use of laws on 'discrediting' the armed forces and 'offending religious feelings' to punish critics of the Ukraine war and raises new questions about how far Moscow will try to enforce those laws abroad.