Russia jails stand-up comic Artemy Ostani over war joke

A Russian comedian has been sentenced to more than five years in a penal colony for telling a joke about a disabled war veteran.

Twenty-nine-year-old stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin received his sentence in a Moscow court on Wednesday after being convicted of inciting hatred.

His case centres on a 2025 comedy routine in which he joked about a veteran who lost his legs in a wartime explosion and had to ride a skateboard, calling him a “legless skater”. Footage of the performance went viral, provoking outrage among Russian nationalists who claimed Ostanin had disrespected soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

Ostanin, who was arrested last March while trying to flee to Belarus, denied that his joke referred to Russians in combat in Ukraine. He was also found guilty of offending Christians over a separate joke about Jesus that angered Orthodox nationalists.

“The final sentence for Ostanin is imprisonment for five years and nine months in a general regime penal colony,” judge Olesya Mendeleyeva was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

‘Laws used to silence speech’

In his final statement to the court, Ostanin denounced the proceedings as unjust, saying, “I hope no one ever finds themselves in the same situation of brutal legal abuse that I did.” When asked whether he understood the sentence, he replied, “To hell with your judicial practice. No, I don’t,” the news agency Reuters reported.

In addition to his prison term, Ostanin was fined 300,000 rubles ($3,900) and placed on a government list of designated “terrorists and extremists” – a measure often used against political opponents.

Russian rights group Memorial slammed Ostanin’s prosecution.

“This case shows how vague extremism and blasphemy laws are used to silence speech, intimidate artists, and punish humour,” the group said in a statement on X.

Since launching its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has sharply intensified its campaign against critics.