MOSCOW – A Russian performance artist nailed his genitals to the ground outside Moscow’s Red Square in protest over Russia’s “police state” as the country marked national police day.
A video shows naked Pyotr Pavlensky sitting on Russia’s most famous square just outside the Kremlin on Sunday afternoon after nailing himself to the ground. Police first took him to the hospital and then in their custody.
Interfax news agency said that a court dismissed charges of “petty hooliganism” and released him Monday.
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Pavlensky, who has long been known for his self-mutilating stunts, told Dozhd television he wanted to warn that “we are on the threshold of becoming a police state.”
In the summer of 2012, Pavlensky sewed his mouth closed to protest the imprisonment of three members of Pussy Riot band.
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