Artemy Ostanin
Resident of Moscow, stand-up comedian. In March 2025, he was prosecuted for incitement to hatred. The reason was his joke about a man who lost his legs due to a landmine explosion, with whom he had a conflict in the metro. The case was initiated after the statement of the movement "Call of the People". According to the investigation, Ostanin "made negative and insulting comments about a participant of a special military operation." The comedian himself claims that his joke had nothing to do with the war, and the person he joked about was "a beggar in the metro who has been skateboarding without legs for about 20 years." On 18 March 2025, Ostanin was detained in Belarus. When detained, he was shorn of his hair and put not only in handcuffs but also a meat grinder - apparently related to one of his recent speeches, in which he ironised about the fact that in the Murmansk region mothers of war dead were given meat grinders. The defence lawyer stated that Ostanin was severely beaten during his detention. On 19 March he was taken into custody in Moscow.