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Moscow Court Denies Home Arrest Plea for Pavlensky

Russian artist Petr Pavlensky smiles in a cage in court room in Moscow.

The Moscow City Court has ruled to keep performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky in custody until April, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday.

The court rejected an appeal by Pavlensky's lawyer Dmitry Dinze, who requested that he be released on bail or placed under house arrest, the news agency reported.

In court, the artist demanded that he be charged with terrorism instead of vandalism.

Pavlensky was arrested and charged with vandalism after he set fire to the main entrance of the FSB headquarters on Moscow's Lubyanskaya Ploshchad on Nov. 9, 2015.

The action, titled “Threat. The Burning Doors of Lubyanka,” was a protest against repressive government policies, according to the artist.

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