A court in Rostov-on-Don has placed 63-year-old artist Viktor Kirman in pre-trial detention on charges of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code).

The artist will be held in Rostov’s Detention Centre No. 4, which is under FSB control.

Kirman’s wife told their daughter that before his arrest she saw him beaten: “His whole head was yellow, his face covered in bruises.” He had haematomas and bruising around his eyes, especially on the right side of his face. His clothes were also dirty.

According to the artist, security officers beat him on 25 May. They demanded he sign certain papers and confess to sending money to Ukraine.

Nelli Kirman says that the investigators are focusing on the fact that her father has relatives in Ukraine, including both his daughters who live there. The artist was born in Kirovohrad Oblast, now in central Ukraine, but has lived in Rostov-on-Don for the past 40 years, Nelli Kirman notes.

The artist does not admit guilt in the treason case.

Kirman was detained on 26 February. After that, he was arrested nine times on various administrative charges under different pretexts. During these “carousel arrests,” he told his relatives about being tortured. According to Kirman, during interrogations he was beaten and doused with water in a mock drowning, and electricity was also used on him.

• Viktor Kirman is a member of the Union of Artists of Russia and the International Association of Fine Arts under UNESCO. He worked in painting, ceramics, restoration, and interior design.
• Kirman is originally from Ukraine but later moved to Russia. He graduated from the Art and Graphics Faculty at Rostov Pedagogical University and later taught at the Department of Decorative and Applied Art and Design at SFU. He also runs a studio in Rostov-on-Don, a major city in southern Russia, where he gives painting masterclasses for adults and children.
• Over the years, the artist has worked in both Russia and Ukraine, including restoring exhibits in Russian and Ukrainian museums. In the 2010s, with support from the Rostov Regional Ukrainian National and Cultural Autonomy, Kirman and his daughter held exhibitions in cities in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, eastern Ukraine.