Three first-year students at the Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry have been expelled after Orthodox activists reported a TikTok video showing them dancing near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. This was reported by Groza, citing one of its readers.
On 2 June, the “Sorok Sorokov” movement drew attention to a TikTok post featuring three young women dancing in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow. The video was apparently filmed at the end of May. Orthodox activists posted about it in their Telegram channel, which has 12,000 subscribers, and urged supporters to send appeals to the Investigative Committee requesting that the women be prosecuted under criminal law.
According to Groza, on 5 June, a Stroganov Academy lecturer wrote in a student chat that the “incident with the students” had been discussed at a faculty council. The lecturer claimed that, because of the “video of the dance in provocative clothing in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour,” a court handed the women a sentence of 11 years of corrective labour for criminal insult of religious feelings (Article 148 of the Criminal Code). After this, the students were expelled.
“Please, watch your behaviour and do not let your life be ruined because of stupidity,” the lecturer wrote to the other students.
However, in July, “Sorok Sorokov” published a response from the Moscow Central Administrative District police department, stating that the students had been held administratively liable for petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Administrative Offences Code). The response also indicates the young women were detained two days after Orthodox activists called for reports to be sent in. There is no mention in the document of a criminal case against them.
16:20 The press service at the Stroganov Academy confirmed the expulsion of the students after the dance near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, RIA Novosti reports.
“All three first-year students from the Department of Artistic Interior Design have been expelled from the student body by decision of the Stroganov Academy’s Academic Council for violation of public order and insulting the religious feelings of citizens,” reads the university’s statement. They consider the students’ behaviour to be incompatible with the status of a state university student.
Illustration: solvejg_art for OVD-Info
Since the end of 2023, the authorities have been actively using the rhetoric of “protecting traditional values” as a method of putting pressure on public figures and ordinary people. Participants in Anastasia Ivleeva’s “almost naked” party and others accused of supposedly “immoral” acts are facing judicial and other forms of pressure.
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