‘I’ll never do it again’: Instagrammer apologizes after being placed under house arrest by Russian court and warns him he could be jailed for a year for blocking his lower back in front of a cathedral in St Petersburg .
- 30-year-old Irina Volkova appeared in court on Sunday to apologize for her Instagram
- The post shows him with a bandage on his back in front of St. Isaac’s Cathedral
- “I apologize for hurting these pictures and people of faith,” she said.
- She faces up to a year in prison but was granted bail so she can take care of her son
A Russian model is facing up to a year in prison for having bandaged herself outside St. Petersburg Cathedral.
Irina Volkova, 30, appeared in court on Sunday and apologized for an Instagram video in which she was seen pulling off her skirt in front of St. Isaac’s Cathedral.
‘I apologize for hurting the sentiments of these images and people of faith. I went too far as an Instagrammer,’ she told the judge.
‘Everything will be removed and I won’t do it again.’
The influential man was placed under house arrest but is still facing prison as prosecutors say he ‘insulted and insulted’ the Russian Orthodox Church and angered entire society.
Irina Volkova in court on Sunday. She told the judge: ‘I apologize for these images and for hurting the sentiments of people of faith. I’ve gone too far as an Instagrammer
Irina Volkova, 30, appeared in court on Sunday to apologize for an Instagram video that showed her pulling up her skirt in front of St. Isaac’s Cathedral.
Volkova looks to the ground as she appears in St. Petersburg court on Sunday
The heavily tattooed model regularly posts ritual photos to her 6,000 followers on Instagram
Blogger appearing in court over the weekend
The clip was shared with her 6,000 followers over the summer, but only recently came to the attention of Russian authorities.
The case dates back to last week when an Instagram model and a male prankster were jailed for ten months for imitating oral sex outside the world-famous St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.
Volkova was initially detained and brought before a judge in handcuffs from a detention center.
In one video, she is imprisoned in a courtroom, telling a judge in St Petersburg – Vladimir Putin’s home town – that she ‘took pictures without thinking.’
She was allowed to go under house arrest to care for her school-age son, but is expected to face a full trial later that could lead to a prison sentence.
Volkova voluntarily appeared in the office of the Russian Investigative Committee and was detained.
Last week Ruslani Murodzhonzoda, 23 – a Tajik citizen also known as Ruslan Bobiyev – and 19-year-old Anastasia Chistova apologized for their crappy stunts posted on Instagram, but showed no mercy by the judge.
He was seen wearing a police jacket and kneeling in front of him in a view of the world famous St. Basil’s Cathedral.
He was imprisoned under a new law, in which he was found guilty of hurting the sentiments of religious people.
“He took public action expressing clear disrespect to the society,” the court said in a statement.
After serving the sentence, he is to be deported.
Chistova said: ‘Now I realize the price of such popularity.
‘And I must respond to the fullest extent of the law with my freedom, public condemnation, disapproval of my parents and those close to me.
‘I am very hurt.’
He also claimed that it was Murodjonjoda who had chosen the location and assured him that there was nothing wrong with it.
Russian ticker Ruslan Murodzonzoda and his girlfriend Anastasia Chistova have been jailed for 10 months for imitating oral sex in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square.
The couple were found guilty of ‘hurting religious sentiments’ by Moscow’s Tverskoye district court (pictured, a side view of a photo posted on Instagram)
‘I followed him like a dog,’ she said.
He said: ‘I’m honestly sorry, I’ll never do it again.’
Opposition activist Leonid Volkov called the sentence ‘madness, just madness’.
‘They didn’t do anything,…it’s just a picture.’
Russia tightened its laws in 2012 after the arrest of pussy riot artists protesting against Putin in a Moscow cathedral.
Human rights group Memorial claimed that the number of political prisoners in Russia had risen from 362 last year to 420, suggesting a Soviet-era repression trend.
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