Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A Moscow court sentenced Russian stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin to five years and nine months in prison and a $4,000 fine after finding him guilty of telling jokes that incited hatred of Ukraine war veterans with life-changing injuries and insulted Christians' faith.
Ostanin was sentenced on Wednesday for on-stage routines alleged to have included gags featuring a "legless skateboarder" in connection with the war in Ukraine and an imagined conversation with Jesus Christ in which Jesus relates a story that effectively states he was crucified for exposing the truth.
The prosecution alleged the slurs, which were allegedly made during two shows in early 2025, were part of a systematic effort and that Ostanin had formed an "organized criminal group" for the express purpose of writing and performing the material.
Footage shared online by military bloggers and pro-war groups placed a target on his back, leading to him being arrested on the Belarus border in March as he attempted to flee the country and delivered into the custody of Moscow's Meshchansky District Court, where he has been held without bail ever since.
Ostanin denied that the disabled subject of his joke was a war veteran, saying that complainants from the Zov Naroda pro-war group had twisted it around.
