Pyotr Pavlensky could get up to five years in prison for his
protest action on Red Square.
Police have brought hooliganism charges against artist
Pyotr Pavlensky who nailed his scrotum to the cobbles
on Red Square to protest Russia's descent into a "police
state."
Pavlensky has been released on the condition that he
doesn't leave Moscow, a police spokesman told RIA
Novosti Friday. Hooliganism carries a maximum sentence
of five years in prison.
He had earlier been charged with disorderly conduct,
punishable by a fine of up to 1,000 rubles ($30) or a 15-
day detention.
Pavlensky said that his ballsy protest , timed to coincide
with a holiday honoring the police on Nov. 10, was "a
metaphor for the apathy, political indifference, and fatalism
of contemporary Russian society."
"It's not the bureaucrats' lawlessness that robs
the society of an opportunity to act, but our fixation
on our defeats and losses is nailing us to the Kremlin's
cobbles," Pavlensky said in a statement.
His intention was to protest Russia's slide into a "police
state" and the authorities' attempt to "turn the country
into one big prison camp," he said.
He drove a nail through his skin, trying to avoid hitting
any veins, Pavlensky told Metro News. Then, he
hammered the nail into the soft ground between Red
Square cobbles, he said, Moi Raion reported.
Police covered Pavlensky with a blanket and had him
taken to a hospital. Doctors disinfected and dressed his
wound and gave him a tetanus shot, the performance
artist said.
He said he had bought the nails at a hardware store,
washed them with soapy water and wiped them with
ethanol.
"I didn't see any particularly frightening health
consequences," Pavlensky said.
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