Russian street artist Filipp Kozlov, who goes by the name Philippenzo, could face up to three years in prison for anti-war graffiti, just days after his release from prison over past minor offenses, the independent outlet Polygon Mediareported Friday.Video published by Polygon Media showed Kozlov escorted by law enforcement officers wearing civilian clothing.The outlet said authorities searched Kozlovs apartment and studio, and confiscated some of his artwork.
It was not immediately clear whether the searches were carried out in Kozlovs hometown of Volgograd or Moscow, where he currently lives.Polygon Media said Kozlov was "preliminarily" charged withpolitically motivated vandalism, an offense punishable by up to three years in prison, but the outlet did not cite the source of this information.The alleged charges are said to be connected to Kozlovs graffiti work Izrossilovaniye a portmanteau of the Russian words for rape and Russia unveiled in Moscow on June 12, a public holiday known as Russia Day.The work references Russias domestic political crackdown and the invasion of Ukraine.
City workers painted over the graffiti shortly after it appeared.Earlier in July and August, Kozlov served two consecutive 15-day terms in prison on misdemeanor charges of disobeying police orders.
He wasreleased from a Moscow region detention center on Saturday.He was previously fined twice in 2022 for anti-war graffiti and once for discrediting the Russian military,according to the independent news outlet Activatica.Following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities criminalized the spread of information about the countrys military that deviates from the Kremlins narrative on what it calls its special military operation.The new law introduced jail terms of up to 15 years for the publication of "knowingly false information" about Russias army.