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Even Banksy couldn’t help them
Russian performance art troupe harassed, threatened, jailed

When Banksy offered to pay $133,000 US to get artists Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolayev out of a Russian jail, the local court said “nyet!”. But Russians charged with murder are routinely released for a fraction of that amount. Oleg and Leonid belong to the artist group VOINA (which means “war”), and they have upset some very powerful people in Russia.

Without international support, their members face life threatening conditions in custody, a corrupt legal system, lengthy sentences if convicted, and the continuing harassment and intimidation of VOINA’s members many of whom have gone into hiding.

weedguru_waffles wrote:lol! Banksy is awesome!! I wanna see exit through the giftshop so much!!!

Grrrl wrote:It is defo worth a watch waffles if you get a chance

http://www.alluc.org/movies/watch-Exit- ... 00652.html

you can watch it online and d/l it from this link

WeedGuru_Flow wrote:

weedguru_waffles wrote:lol! Banksy is awesome!! I wanna see exit through the giftshop so much!!!

Saw that documentary last week, pretty awesome but it revolves more around the guy that shot the artists and then basically copied what they did en masse, it's about Mr. Brainwash, the andy warhol of this era :p

16 Feb 2011, 6:15
Oleg Vorotnikov’s appeal rejected
Another court hearing on the case of Oleg Vorotnikov was held yesterday, February 14th in St. Petersburg. The court examined and rejected the attorney’s appeal on the custody extension decision of January 14th.

The next hearing on Oleg’s case will take place February 21st at 11:30 AM in Dzerzhinsky District court of St. Petersburg. The court will decide on further extension of custody for Oleg.

A court session set to examine a similar appeal in the case of Leonid Nikolaev had to be postponed to February 21st. This is due to the fact that the appeal process for the initial arrest decision (from November 2010) has not yet completed. Thus in Leonid’s case, the initial court ruling to put him in custody has not yet taken force. The court will first have to examine the attorney’s appeal on that ruling, in a session that has been scheduled for February 18th.

Since their arrest on November 15th, 2010 Oleg and Leonid have been in custody for 3 months.

During a meeting with his attorney that took place before the January 14th court session, Oleg shared the following information.

According to Oleg, he had been called in for a talk by prison officials the day before. They were apparently outraged by the fact that Oleg had been giving interviews to the media. He was reprimanded in particular for the interview (Russian) he had given to Gazeta.Ru. The officials showed Oleg a print-out of the interview and told him to “never do it again”. It was hinted that his meetings with the lawyer could be restricted, despite the law clearly stating his right to unlimited attorney meetings. (Incidentally, Oleg had never actually realized he was giving an interview. The questions, passed to him by the lawyer, were written on a piece of paper that contained no additional information. Oleg assumed it to be a private letter from his wife.)

The real reason why the prison administration took a grudge against Oleg was the publication of his letter to his wife (which also happened due to a misunderstanding). In this private letter, Oleg described the practice of adding an extra tier to prison bunk beds, which is illegal and causes overpopulation in the cells. He also mentioned sanitary violations (bedbugs, HIV and hepatitis carriers being held together with healthy prisoners). It was the publication of those facts that irritated the prison officials.

During the talk in the warden’s office Oleg was blatantly told that, should he continue talking about prison conditions, the administration would find ways to make it worse for him. As soon as the interview came out, according to Oleg, his cell was searched and his cellmates were harassed.

According to the lawyer, the publication of the interview does not constitute any violation on Oleg’s part. This kind of reaction from the prison administration should be regarded as an infringement on free speech and an attempt to pressure and intimidate the prisoner.

(weedguru)scarf wrote:

WeedGuru_Flow wrote:

weedguru_waffles wrote:lol! Banksy is awesome!! I wanna see exit through the giftshop so much!!!

Saw that documentary last week, pretty awesome but it revolves more around the guy that shot the artists and then basically copied what they did en masse, it's about Mr. Brainwash, the andy warhol of this era :p

andy warhol? your fucking kidding right? hahaha...
MBW was a man with some mental issues... who, outside of the states, probably outside of california really knows who he is... a flash in the pan... warhol was a revolutionary in the artworld... never use them in the same sentence again...

but yes it was a great documentary... more a commentary on who decides what is and isnt art....

and the russians... thats fucked up... a lot of us speak about the power held in the US by a certain few, but the same can be said about many many other countries.... russia included

(weedguru)scarf wrote:

WeedGuru_Flow wrote:

weedguru_waffles wrote:lol! Banksy is awesome!! I wanna see exit through the giftshop so much!!!

Saw that documentary last week, pretty awesome but it revolves more around the guy that shot the artists and then basically copied what they did en masse, it's about Mr. Brainwash, the andy warhol of this era :p

andy warhol? your fucking kidding right? hahaha...
MBW was a man with some mental issues... who, outside of the states, probably outside of california really knows who he is... a flash in the pan... warhol was a revolutionary in the artworld... never use them in the same sentence again...

but yes it was a great documentary... more a commentary on who decides what is and isnt art....

and the russians... thats fucked up... a lot of us speak about the power held in the US by a certain few, but the same can be said about many many other countries.... russia included