Moscow bartender sentenced to three years in prison over Easter cake hookah video

A Moscow court has sentenced a former bartender to more than three years in prison over an incident in which she posted a video online that showed her using a traditional Easter cake as a hookah base.

Ksenia Belousova, a 27-year-old Moscow resident, was convicted on charges of “offending the feelings of believers”. She was taken into custody in the courtroom during her hearing on Wednesday.

According to independent outlet Mediazona, Belousova had previously been sentenced to three years of probation on drug-related charges. In light of this, prosecutors requested that her suspended sentence be revoked and that she be given a combined sentence of three years and 25 days in prison.

The indictment states that on Easter, “a holiday of exceptional significance”, Belousova posted a video on Instagram showing a hookah with a base shaped like a traditional Orthodox kulich Easter cake. Investigators alleged that she did this to “draw public attention to her own professional skills as a hookah master”.

Investigators also argued the post was “demonstratively mocking” in tone, including the caption “Even Christ would rise again for something like this”. In the video, Belousova can be heard telling her bar colleagues that a customer had asked for such a hookah and had gone out to buy the cake himself.

The case against Belousova was opened on 13 April. The Instagram video had first caught the attention of pro-war blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov and pro-government Telegram channels. Shortly afterward, Belousova deleted the post and published an apology, but this didn’t stop authorities from moving forward with her prosecution.

“I myself am a believer, as are my relatives. I regularly attend church and value and respect everything connected with it. My family — my mother, father, and brother — are participants in the SVO [special military operation, i.e. the war in Ukraine], and I ask that the state of their health be taken into account,” Belousova said in her closing statement.