Andrei Borovikov, the Russian activist who is being charged with “production and distribution of pornography” for sharing Rammstein’s “Pussy” music video on a Russian social media site, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. The verdict came in earlier today (29th) from the Lomonosovsky District Court. It is believed Borovikov is being targeted after serving as coordinator of Alexei Navalny, who currently in a Russian corrective facility reportedly being tortured. 

Borovikov shared the video on VKontakte, a Russian social media site equivalent to Facebook, back in 2014. According to the BBC, there are hundreds of reposts of the “Pussy” video on VKontakte. There are presently no other known instances of these reposts being turned into a criminally charged offense. 

Russian news source Novaya Gazeta reported the following:

“The accusation is based on the testimony of a police informant who invited Borovikov to watch the saved video together, as well as on the conclusions of the examination ordered by the investigation, which did not find artistic value in the frank clip of the world famous group.”

Despite pleading not guilty to the charges against him and prosecutors pushing for a three-year sentence in a high-security penal colony, he was ultimately sentenced to two-and-a-half years.