Piotr Pavlenski, Russian artist who broadcast Griveaux's sexual videos - Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP

  • The Russian performance artist obtained political asylum in France in May 2017.
  • Since then, he has been sentenced for the first time in 2017 to three years in prison, two of which are suspended, for having set fire to a Banque de France agency.
  • He is this time implicated in two other cases, one of violence with a weapon, and the disclosure of an intimate video of Benjamin Griveaux.
  • However, it seems unlikely that Piotr Pavlenski would lose his refugee status, regardless of the legal outcome of these cases, according to foreign law specialist Denis Seguin.

“Let this guy be fucked outside, he is a political refugee, he came to ask for asylum but he behaves like a bastard. He has no idea what adapted behavior is in an enlightened society. Friday evening, on the set of the parliamentary chain, the deputy LREM of Eure, Bruno Questel, struggles to contain his anger after the diffusion by the Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski of a video with sexual character of Benjamin Griveaux. The performer thus intends to denounce "hypocrisy which has become the norm". “ He is someone who constantly relies on family values, who says that he wants to be the mayor of families and always cites his wife and children as an example. But it does the opposite, ”he told Liberation .

Piotr Pavlenski "Let this guy be fucked outside! He is a political refugee, he behaves like a bastard. If there is a 1st thing to do is put him on a plane towards Russia and he will see with Mr Putin if he can do this kind of bullshit "slice @ BQuestel. # CVR pic.twitter.com/q2C2dLJibz

- LCP (@LCP) February 14, 2020

The man, already wanted since January 2 for violence with a gun on New Years Eve, was arrested on Saturday at his home. For his new "work", Piotr Pavlenski - like those who published these images - faces two years in prison and a fine of 60,000 euros. Article 226-2-1 of the Criminal Code punishes indeed “any person who, in the absence of a person's agreement for dissemination, brings to the attention of the public or a third party any recording or document relating words or images of a sexual nature ”. In 2017, the Russian had already been sentenced to three years in prison - two of which were suspended - for burning down a branch of the Banque de France, barely six months after obtaining his political refugee status.

"He was able to demonstrate that he was persecuted because of his political opinions"

Piotr Pavlenski became known in Russia in 2012 after sewing his mouth in support of the Pussy Riot. This was followed by a series of extreme artistic performances aimed at denouncing the power in place. In 2013, he nailed his scrotum on the cobblestones of Moscow's red square against "the passivity and inertia of contemporary Russian society". The following year, he sliced ​​his earlobe perched on the wall of a psychiatric institute to denounce the instrumentalization of his disorders by the authorities. In 2015, he set fire to the historic headquarters of the KGB.

If his performances have earned him frequent trouble with the law in Russia, it is a story of morals that pushes him to leave Moscow: in December 2016, he and his wife are accused of sexual assault. The two of them shout at firsthand and take refuge in Paris with their two daughters. In May 2017, they obtained the title of political refugee. “The criteria for obtaining refugee status are defined by the Geneva Convention, explains Me Denis Seguin, a lawyer specializing in foreigners' law *. If he obtained this status, it was because he was able to demonstrate that he was persecuted because of his political opinions and his opposition to Vladimir Putin. "

But whatever his problems with French justice, it seems unlikely that Piotr Pavlenski will lose his refugee status. “An exceptional procedure can be initiated to withdraw a person's status, but this concerns individuals who have committed particularly serious crimes or offenses, for example damaging the physical integrity or the life of a person. It does not seem that this is the case in this case, ”specifies Me Denis Seguin. On its website, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) lists in particular war crimes, acts of terrorism, serious ordinary crimes (murder, rape, etc.) or any activity threatening public order. or state security, whether these crimes were committed in France or not.

* Denis Seguin is the author of the Guide to litigation for the rights of foreigners, ed. Lexis Nexis

Politics

Withdrawal of Benjamin Griveaux: "We are going to look in the private life of politicians to know if they are not lying to us"

Paris

Withdrawal of Benjamin Griveaux: Dissidence, insults, sexual video ... The sinking of the candidate LREM in Paris

  • Right of asylum
  • Benjamin griveaux
  • Asylum
  • Paris
  • Society