In St Petersburg, participants in a photo shoot featuring shibari elements at a cemetery have received suspended sentences.

The Krasnogvardeysky District Court in St Petersburg found the participants of a photo shoot at the Bolshoy Okhtinsky Cemetery guilty of offending the feelings of believers (part 2, article 148 of the Criminal Code) and desecration of burial sites (paragraph ‘a,’ part 2, article 244 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the press service of the city’s courts.

Artists Anna Panteleeva and Kristina Rozhkova were each given two-year suspended sentences, while model Yaroslav Gumenny and photographer Sergey Evstyukhin received one and a half years each.

The prosecutor had requested sentences of three to four years in a penal settlement.

The group held the photo shoot in June 2024. Panteleeva and Gumenny took part as models. Panteleeva posed topless by graves and was tied with rope for shibari. Gumenny was tied to a cross installed at one of the graves with the same rope for the shoot. Panteleeva later published stories from the session.

The prosecution also claimed that Rozhkova “directed the actions” of the models and, together with Evstyukhin, photographed them. Rozhkova herself initially said she did not participate in the photo shoot.

All those involved pleaded guilty in court.

• A case was opened against the participants in the photo shoot after Panteleeva’s stories caught the attention of “Male State” and the artist was subjected to harassment. In addition, Timor Bulatov, an openly homophobic St Petersburg resident, filed a complaint against her.
• After being detained, the participants spent a month in a pre-trial detention centre, but in July were moved to house arrest or placed under travel restrictions.