ST. PETERSBURG, August 29 (RAPSI) — A magistrate court in the city of Yekaterinburg on Monday sentenced former Yeltsin Center security guard Alexander Vasilyev to 180 hours of community service and compulsory treatment for damaging a painting by Kazimir Malevich's student Anna Leporskaya.
The 63-year-old guard was found guilty of vandalism, the prosecutor's office of the Sverdlovsk region reported.
The court dismissed a motion of Vasilyev’s lawyer Aleksey Bushmakov to impose a fine on Vasilyev who is mentally ill. According to media outlets Vasilyev is an Afghanistan and the first Chechen conflict veteran, who was shell-shocked when on a mission.
According to investigators, on December 7, 2021, Vasiliev, an employee of a private security organization, had a criminal intent to damage Three Figures painting created in 1934. The work was presented by the Tretyakov Gallery for the exhibition in Yekaterinburg.
The guard drew eyes on the faces of the painted figures with a gel pen. The damage exceeded 250,000 rubles (about $4,000 at the current exchange rate) spent on the restoration of the painting. This amount was reimbursed by the insurance company.