French court sentences Russian artist to six months in sextape scandal / Photo: Alain JOCARD - AFP
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French court sentences Russian artist to six months in sextape scandal
A French court on Wednesday sentenced the controversial Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky to six months in prison for his role in a sex tape scandal which ended a campaign by an ally of President Emmanuel Macron to become Paris mayor.
Pavlensky, 39, will serve his sentence outside jail with an electronic bracelet while his partner Alexandra de Taddeo, 32, was given a six-month suspended sentence for her role.
Benjamin Griveaux, 45, a former French government spokesman and prominent figure in Macron's ruling party, was seeking in 2020 to end years of Socialist control of Paris city hall when explicit videos emerged that he had sent to a woman.
Pavlensky, who before moving to France in 2017 had gained notoriety in Russia for actions that included in 2013 nailing his scrotum to Red Square in Moscow, claimed the stunt saying it was an artwork called "Pornopolitics".
De Taddeo, who had a brief relationship with Griveaux in 2018, had been accused of keeping the videos and also taking part in their publication, which she denied.
The videos, which Griveaux had sent to de Taddeo, showed a man masturbating and had been edited to show screen shots of the message exchanges between the two.
Griveaux pulled out of the mayor race and has quit politics.
The two defendants were also ordered to pay 15,000 euros in damages to Griveaux, as well as 5,000 euros in legal fees.
- 'Justice done' -
Pavlensky, who had accused the married Griveaux of hypocrisy during the Paris mayor campaign, indicated as he left the courtroom that he would not appeal.
"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. That's why I'm not going to appeal."
For Benjamin Griveaux's lawyer, Richard Malka, "the artistic fantasies of one and the denials of the other were rejected by the court".
Of Griveaux he said: "Obviously, he is pleased that justice has been done, but the wrongs done to him will never be made good."
At the time the scandal prompted rare unity in French politics, with voices on left and right uniting to condemn the actions of Pavlensky and what they saw as a threat to democratic life in France.
The trial, which started on June 28, was marked by the absence of Griveaux and incidents which exasperated the judge including applause in the courtroom and actors called as witnesses only to quote lines from French playwright Moliere.
Pavlensky was sentenced in 2019 to three years in prison, two of them suspended, for setting fire to the facade of a branch of France's central bank in Paris.
A.MacCodrum--NG
