A court in St. Petersburg has placed travel restrictions on a local tattoo artist while she is investigated for insulting the feelings of believers over tattoos she designs that have been called “sacrilegious”, Russian human rights non-profit OVD-Info said on Sunday.
The group said Daria Krichker, 24, was detained at the city’s Pulkovo Airport on Saturday as she tried to board a flight to the Armenian capital Yerevan.
The investigation was prompted by a complaint submitted by the Sorok Sorokov Russian Orthodox traditionalist social movement to Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, asking him to press charges against the artist for her “repeated gross blasphemy against Christ, the Virgin and the saints of the church”.
Krichker’s tattoos. Photos: Social media
On its Telegram channel, the group said that Krichker created “sacrilegious tattoos” on religious themes, adding cats and other characters. Telegram channel Baza reported on Saturday that investigators had expressed particular outrage at one tattoo of “Jesus at the moment of orgasm”.
Sorok Sorokov had earlier complained about the work of Nina Karmysh, another tattoo artist who collaborates with Krichker, and its head, Georgy Soldatov, wrote to her to request she take down online images of her work. In her response, the tattoo artist suggested he not take offence, while questioning the robustness of his faith.
