A Moscow criminal case has been opened against German satirist and float builder Jacques Tilly after his 2023 Düsseldorf Carnival float depicted Russian President Vladimir Putin bathing in the blood of Ukraine. The depiction has drawn the attention of Russian authorities and led to the first criminal proceedings against the well-known artist.
The trial is taking place in Moscow in Tilly’s absence. A hearing that was due to continue last Wednesday was postponed after a brief opening session; it has already been delayed once and is now scheduled to resume on February 26. Earlier hearings in December were marked by procedural problems: the court-appointed defense attorney arrived late, and at the most recent session prosecution witnesses did not appear. Representatives of the German embassy are expected at future hearings, but they will not have speaking rights in court.
Tilly reacted with disbelief to the proceedings. “With everything that is happening in the world right now, I find it downright ridiculous that a Carnival float builder, of all people, is being put on trial. It’s like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut,” he told DW.
Tilly’s oversized papier-mâché figures are a fixture on Düsseldorf’s Rose Monday parade floats and have gained international recognition. His work lampoons a wide range of targets — from the church and the state to climate inaction and the far right — and has previously provoked threats of legal action. Those threats, including ones following a 2025 float mocking AfD politician Alice Weidel, did not result in charges.
In Germany, political satire is protected as a form of expression, provided it does not breach other laws. Tilly describes his work as “mockery spiced with humor; criticism wrapped in humor,” and says Putin “can’t stand criticism.” He warned that critics of the Russian regime often face court cases and, in the worst cases, imprisonment in camps — outcomes he fears could happen to him.
The criminal complaint lodged by Russian authorities accuses Tilly of defaming Russian state institutions, including the military and President Putin, and cites the 2023 float as the trigger for the proceedings. Tilly rejects the allegations, saying prosecutors claim he “defamed the Russian military and act[ed] out of self-interest,” language he says is commonly used against regime critics in Russia.
It remains unclear why charges were not filed until December 2025. So far Tilly has not received a formal indictment and has not had direct contact with the court-appointed defense lawyer. If convicted, he could face fines and imprisonment in a penal camp. The case also has practical consequences: Tilly says he has been warned he may be unable to enter countries that have extradition agreements with Russia, such as India, Serbia, Egypt, and Indonesia. The German Foreign Office has explicitly advised him against travel to those states.
Tilly interprets the action as a deliberate show of force. “The charges are meant to say, ‘We know what you’re doing, and we have our methods of responding to it,’” he said, arguing the move is intended as a message not only to him but to others. He places his work in the long German carnival tradition of Narrenfreiheit — the “fool’s liberty” allowing jesters and satirists to mock authority — and points out that his targets have included figures from Donald Trump to Iran’s clerics and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Tilly says he made his first Putin float after the 2006 murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and has been critical of the Russian president ever since. He does not take the charges personally but views them as evidence that his satire has impact: “Of course, it’s a nice confirmation that one’s own influence is far-reaching. I see that satire hurts, and that it hurts Putin, too,” he said, adding that the attention only strengthens his resolve to continue producing provocative work.
This article was originally written in German.