Artemy Ostanin called the sentence requested by the prosecutor inhumane.

Stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin from Yeysk, speaking at a Moscow court hearing, denied the charges and called the victims in the case "professional informers," but apologized to those who might have been offended by his performance. His lawyer asked the court to acquit Ostanin.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," at the end of December, the prosecutor's office approved the indictment in the case of stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin* from Yeysk, who joked about a legless disabled man. A charge of insulting religious feelings, elements of which were found in another of the comedian's performances, was added to the article on inciting hatred or enmity. On January 12, the court extended Ostanin's pretrial detention for six months, and on January 17, it was announced that his bank accounts had been frozen. According to the prosecution, Ostanin "created an organized criminal group for the development and production of humiliating short performances." He pled not guilty. At the hearing on January 27, the prosecution requested a five-year, eleven-month prison sentence for Ostanin (one month less than the maximum sentence for extremism) with a fine of 300,000 rubles.

At the beginning of today's hearing in the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow, the judge granted the defendant the opportunity to address the closing arguments. Artemy Ostanin stated that he “categorically” disagrees with the charges. “I consider the request (for a prison sentence) inhumane,” Mediazona* quotes the comedian as saying.

Ostanin emphasized that the victims in his case are people who watched the recording of his performance online, and they are essentially “simply witnesses.” These people demanded that the stand-up comedian’s performances be investigated under the law on insulting religious feelings, but not under the law on extremism. “These are professional informers from the Forty Forties movement,” he described the victims, noting that they have not attended court hearings since speaking out.

He again emphasized that there is no evidence in the case of an “organized criminal group.” “I wrote the jokes alone, negotiated with the venues alone, and filmed the material alone,” the defendant insists. Ostanin also recalled that an examination conducted in March 2025 found no evidence in his "psychological and linguistic signs of inciting hostility and hatred towards a particular group of people" in the speech.

"If my words offended anyone's feelings, I apologize to those people whom I somehow offended. “This was unintentional and unpremeditated,” Ostanin added.

The comedian’s lawyer, Mikhail Meshcheryakov, also pointed out in his statement that the investigator’s speculation about a criminal group was not supported by either the case materials or the findings of the judicial investigation. He also agreed with his client’s characterization of the victims in the case, admitting that these people “simply enjoy writing denunciations.”

The defense attorney asked for Artemy Ostanin’s full acquittal. “We are dealing with moralizing that has reached the point where first the man was beaten, and now he’s been sitting in prison for a year,” he concluded.

* listed as a foreign agent.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.