Young couple sentenced to ten months for taking obscene photo on Red Square

In Moscow, a court sentenced blogger from Tajikistan Ruslan Talabdzhon (Ruslan Bobiev) and model Anastasia Chistova (Asya Akimova) to ten months in a general regime colony for an infamous photo that they took with Moscow's iconic St. Basil's Cathedral in the background.

The court found them guilty of committing public actions, which expressed explicit disrespect for society and were committed to offend religious feelings of believers (Part 1 of Article 148 of the Criminal Code).

The young people were thus convicted for publishing a photo, on which they simulated an act of fully-clothed oral sex. The young woman was pictured wearing the police jacket and kneeling in front of the young man. The building of the St. Basil's Cathedral was pictured in the background of the photo. 

The couple was detained and brought to administrative responsibility for disobeying a lawful order from a police officer. They were originally arrested for ten days and ordered to pay a fine of 5,000 rubles.

The court also ruled to expel the blogger from the Russian Federation. After the arrest, the young man brought his public apologies. Later, a criminal case was filed against the couple under Part 1 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public actions expressing explicit disrespect for society, committed in order to offend religious feelings of believers). The article provides a punishment of up to one year in prison.