Moscow (AFP)
Piotr Pavlenski, at the origin of the diffusion of the video which made fall the ex candidate for the mayor of Paris Benjamin Griveaux Friday, is a protest artist known for his shock "performances" with political connotation, refugee in France after fled Russia.
Mr. Pavlenski, 35, shaved head, sunken cheeks, says he practices "political art". "What I denounce is the individual reduced to the state of cattle by the state, propaganda and the instruments of power," he detailed in 2017 shortly before leaving his homeland.
It was still with politics that he broke into Parisian public affairs: he claimed to be at the origin of the online video of a sexual nature which led to the withdrawal of the candidacy of Benjamin Griveaux, a close to President Macron, at the town hall of Paris. The artist says he wanted to "denounce the hypocrisy" of the candidate LREM.
This is not the first coup in France by Piotr Pavlenski: in October 2017, he set fire to the facade of a branch of the Banque de France in Paris to denounce his presence on the Place de la Bastille, according to him "historically ashamed".
Finally sentenced to three years in prison, including a farm, for "destroying the property of others", he criticized during his eleven months spent in pre-trial detention the conditions in French prisons, where detainees are treated "like animals" .
Piotr Pavlenski and his partner Oksana Chalyguina were granted asylum in France after fleeing Russia. The artist said he wanted to escape "ten years in camp" when he was threatened with prosecution for "sexual violence" against an actress from the Moscow theater teatr.doc, according to Russian media.
Mr. Pavlenski disputes these charges.
- Sewn lips and nailed testicles -
In Russia, Piotr Pavlenski had already made a name for himself thanks to his shock "performances", such as having nailed the skin of the testicles on the cobblestones of Red Square, having cut off an ear or having sewn lips in support of the protest group Pussy Riot.
In November 2015, he sprinkled petrol and set fire to one of the doors of Lubyanka, the historic seat of the Russian security services in the heart of Moscow and symbol of the Stalinist purges of the 1930s. After seven months of detention preventive, he was sentenced to a simple fine in a decision of rare leniency for the Russian justice.
A graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Art and Industry and father of two, the artist repeatedly demanded to be tried for "terrorist act".
In May 2013, he presented himself naked, his body surrounded by barbed wire, to the assembly in Saint Petersburg to protest against the passing of laws he said were repressive in Russia. The following year, he was arrested for burning tires on the street, in support of the pro-Western uprising in Kiev.
His punching actions and his positions received variable appreciation within the Russian opposition movements. While some activists have defended his actions as a form of committed art, others like the renowned writer and human rights defender Lioudmila Alexeïeva have condemned "silly" acts.
© 2020 AFP