Pyotr Pavlensky freed: Has the Kremlin learnt a lesson?

Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky was freed from jail by a Moscow court today after what has been described as a "surprisingly lenient" ruling. Could this mean the Kremlin has learnt lessons from bad PR in the past?

Who is Pyotr Pavlensky?

The 32-year-old artist is known for his "intensely physical performances that protest against Russia's restrictions on political freedoms", says The Guardian.

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In the past, he has sewn his lips together, wrapped himself in barbed wire, chopped off parts of his ear and, most famously, nailed his scrotum to the cobbles of Red Square.

Why was he in prison?

He set fire to the door of Russia's infamous security service headquarters, the Lubyanka building in Moscow, last November.

In a statement after his arrest, Pavlensky accused Russia's FSB intelligence agency - whose predecessor, the KGB, once counted Vladimir Putin among its ranks - of "terrorism", saying it used a "method of unending terror".

He added: "The threat of inevitable reprisals hangs over everyone within the range of security cameras, phone-tapping and passport-control borders."

He was charged with vandalism, which carries with it a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Two journalists who witnessed the event were also detained and questioned.

What was the reaction?

Pavlensky's arrest provoked international outcry. Last month, he was awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize for creative dissent, which he shared with Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani and Uzbek photojournalist Umida Akhmedova. Previous winners include Russian punk activists Pussy Riot and Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei.

Has the Kremlin learnt from the Pussy Riot trial?

The courtroom "erupted in applause" as the judge freed Pavlensky with just a fine for damaging a cultural site and compensation for the cost of repairs, reports the Moscow Times.

"The ruling was surprisingly lenient," adds the newspaper. "State prosecutors had asked for a much larger 1.5m-ruble [£16,100] penalty, and the maximum sentence for damaging a cultural heritage site is three years in prison."

Some see this as a sign that the Kremlin has learnt from its disastrous handling of the Pussy Riot trial in 2012, when members of the band were sentenced to two years in a penal colony for hooliganism, a move that garnered huge negative press for Putin both at home and abroad.

Nevertheless, Pavlensky's lawyer has previously suggested he will ignore the fine out of principle, which could land the artists in jail. Although the legal team has argued his innocence, Pavlensky himself demanded that the judge put him on trial for terrorism.