Samara Court Jails Singer Sharlot 5.5 Years for ‘Rehabilitating Nazism’

A court in central Russia’s Samara region sentenced singer Eduard Sharlot to five and a half years in prison for “rehabilitating nazism” and insulting religious feelings, state media reported Friday.

“The final sentence is five years and six months, to be served in a penal colony,” the judge presiding over the singer’s case was quoted as saying by TASS. Sharlot was also banned from “administering websites” for four years.

His lawyers said they plan to appeal the sentencing.

Sharlot was arrested last year after returning to Russia from Armenia, where he had posted videos of himself burning his passport and nailing Patriarch Kirill’s portrait to a cross in opposition to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

He later sent a letter to Russia’s Orthodox Church leader seeking repentance and vowed to devote his career to patriotism. The singer also issued an apology to Patriarch Kirill and President Vladimir Putin, as well as to other Kremlin-aligned figures, during a court appearance.

Sharlot claimed to have been “dazed by American propaganda” when deciding to burn his passport on camera, telling a judge earlier this year that he had been a “lost man.” 

Prosecutors last week asked a judge to sentence him to seven years and five months at a medium-security prison, as well as impose a fine of around 300,000 rubles ($2,913). 

Russia’s state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring added the singer to its list of  “terrorists and extremists” in July, allowing authorities to freeze his bank accounts with a court order. 

The human rights group Memorial has designated Sharlot as a political prisoner.