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A court in Rostov-on-Don has remanded 63-year-old artist Viktor Kirman in custody on charges of state treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). His daughter, Nelli Kirman, told OVD-Info about this.

The artist will be held in Rostov’s pre-trial detention centre No. 4, which is controlled by the FSB.

Kirman’s wife told their daughter that before his arrest she saw him beaten: “His entire head was yellow, his face covered in bruises.” He had haematomas and bruising around his eyes, especially on the right side of his face. In addition, his clothes were dirty.

According to the artist, security officers beat him on 25 May. They demanded he sign certain papers and confess to having sent money to Ukraine.

Nelli Kirman says that the investigation is focusing on the fact that her father has relatives in Ukraine. Both of his daughters also live there. The artist was born in Kirovohrad region (central Ukraine), but has lived continuously in Rostov-on-Don for the last 40 years, Nelli Kirman notes.

The artist does not admit guilt in the state treason case.

Kirman was detained on 26 February. Since then, he has been arrested nine times on various administrative charges for different reasons. During these “carousel arrests,” he told relatives about being tortured. According to Kirman, during interrogations he was beaten and doused with water in a mock drowning; electric shocks were also used on him.

  • Viktor Kirman is a member of the Union of Artists of Russia and the International Association of Art (IAA/AIAP) under UNESCO. He worked in painting, ceramics, restoration, and interior design.
  • Kirman is originally from Ukraine but later moved to Russia. He graduated from the Art and Graphics Faculty of Rostov Pedagogical University, and later taught at the Department of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design at Southern Federal University. He also has a studio in Rostov-on-Don where he held painting workshops for adults and children.
  • At different times, the artist worked in both Russia and Ukraine. This included restoring exhibits in Russian and Ukrainian museums. In the 2010s, with the support of the Rostov Regional Ukrainian National Cultural Autonomy, Kirman and his daughter held exhibitions in cities in Luhansk and Donetsk regions.