Russian activist artist Petr Pavlensky has been sentenced to six months in custody by a French court for his role in a sex tape scandal that brought down a political ally of President Macron.
Pavlensky, who moved to France in 2017, will serve his time outside prison, wearing an electronic tag.
His partner will also serve a six-month suspended sentence.
They released a video which ruined Benjamin Griveaux’s candidacy for mayor of Paris in 2020.
They have both been ordered to pay €15,000 (£12,950) in damages to Mr Griveaux, as well as €5,000 to cover legal fees.
Alexandra de Taddeo, Pavlensky’s partner, had a relationship with Mr Griveaux in 2018.
A video was posted to a website in 2020, revealing screenshots of messages exchanged between the two and a man performing a sexual act with a young woman.
Following its release, Ms Taddeo was arrested on charges of invasion of privacy and distributing personal images without consent. Pavlensky said that he was responsible for posting the video.
Mr Griveaux, a former prominent figure in President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party, was seeking the mayoral seat in Paris when the explicit videos emerged. Almost three-and-a-half years after the event, he has given up politics and was absent from the trial.
His lawyer, Richard Malka, told local media the former secretary of state said was « satisfied that justice has been done to him, but for all that, the wrongs that have been caused to him will never be repaired ».
At the time, political figures were quick to condemn Pavlensky’s actions.
Former Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo said people’s private lives should be respected, while far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon described the video’s release as « odious », while far-right leader Marine Le Pen suggested Mr Griveaux should not have quit.
This is not the first time Pavlensky has received a prison sentence. In 2019, he was given a three-year sentence, two of them suspended, for setting fire to a bank in Paris.
The controversial figure gained notoriety for nailing his scrotum to Moscow’s Red Square in 2013.
At the time, Pavlensky claimed the stunt was part of his artwork Pornopolitics, adding the sex video scandal had been part of this.
Leaving the court room after the sex tape trial, he said he was « not going to appeal against the judge’s decision ».
« My work of art Pornopolitics is now finished, because the judge’s conviction is the last point in my works of art, it’s always like that, » local media reported.
Source: BBC News
