Artist Petr Pavlensky, who yesterday set fire to a doorway of the Federal Security Service (FSB) building in Moscow, is demanding that he be prosecuted for terrorism. "I believe that this is the logic of your system," he told a judge, adding, "and until my demands are met, I refuse to fulfill any of your court rituals," according to the website Mediazona.

Pavlensky has described his act against the FSB as a reaction to the case against the so-called "Crimean terrorists," who include Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for planning an attack in Crimea. "The FSB fabricated all these cases," Pavlensky argues.

In the early morning hours of November 9, Petr Pavlensky, famous for his unorthodox political performance art, set fire to one of the doors of the FSB in downtown Moscow. Pavlensky was then arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and vandalism motivated by hate speech. If convicted, he could go to prison for up to three years. He described his act as a protest against the "perpetual terror" of Russia's special police and "the reflex to fight for one's own life."

Pavlensky is known for several other outlandish acts that have often put him in trouble with the police. In February 2014, he set fire to several tires on a bridge in St. Petersburg, in an effort to recreate the scene of the Maidan Revolution in Kiev. He was later charged with vandalism for this stunt. At his hearing, Pavlensky took a vow of silence.