The Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski, tried for having recorded and broadcast the videos of a sexual nature which led to the fall of Benjamin Griveaux in February 2020, was sentenced, Wednesday October 11 in Paris, to a six-month prison sentence convertible into placement under electronic bracelet. His partner, Alexandra de Taddeo, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence for having kept the videos but also for having participated in their dissemination, which she contested.
During a turbulent trial on June 28, the prosecution requested similar sentences against Mr. Pavlenski, 39, and Ms. Taddeo, 32, arguing that “any action cannot be committed in the name of freedom of expression.”
The Russian artist, known for extreme performances in Russia and a refugee in France since 2017, defended upon arriving in court the broadcast of these videos as being his “eighth subject-object art event” and invoked “artistic freedom” . He then used his right to silence during the hearing.
“Voyeuristic shipwreck”
Then a candidate for La République en Marche (LRM) – now Renaissance – for Paris town hall, Mr. Griveaux abandoned the campaign on February 14, 2020, criticizing “despicable attacks calling into question [his] private life.” .
Less than forty-eight hours earlier, videos of a man masturbating had been published on a site called Pornopolitics, the link to which was relayed on social networks. These videos had been sent by Mr. Griveaux to Ms. Taddeo as part of a brief relationship between May and August 2018. These images had been edited with screenshots of messages exchanged between them.
The resignation of the former Secretary of State, government spokesperson and MP, caused a political scandal: left and right unanimously criticized a “voyeuristic shipwreck” and a “threat to democracy”.
Mr. Pavlenski immediately took responsibility for this “political art” action aimed at denouncing the “disgusting hypocrisy” of Mr. Griveaux, who “used his family by presenting himself as an icon for all the fathers and husbands of Paris” .
The trial was held in the absence of Mr. Griveaux, 45, who abandoned politics. His lawyer, Mr. Richard Malka, called for “protecting” privacy. “In reality, the model they demand is terror 2.0 in the hands of the most violent,” he said, adding: “Art has never been an instrument of denunciation to destroy lives, a totalitarian instrument. »
Ms. Taddeo maintained at the bar that she “at no time wanted to trap” Mr. Griveaux. If the prosecution considers that she is directly involved, the art history student maintained that Mr. Pavlenski had published the images without her knowledge, specifying, however, that he “supported” her companion and his artistic approach.
