Pavel Ustinov

Pavel Ustinov (born 26 December 1995 in Krasnoyarsk Krai) is a Russian actor. He is well known for being arrested at the 2019 Moscow protests and then falsely accused of assaulting a police officer, despite videographic evidence proving his innocence. He was then sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. This has led to widespread public backlash, from teachers to priests, and has resulted in the Russian courts commuting his prison sentence and granting him parole.

Biography Ustinov moved to Moscow after attending school. He graduated in 2017 from Konstantin Raikin's The Higher School of Performing Arts. After graduation, he served with the Russian National Guard and policed the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

He has starred in the television series Morozov and has come to star in Fyodor Bondarchuk's film Attraction (2017).

This ruling rallied a massive backlash from the public, including the city's theatre community, entertainment industry professionals, and the Russian Orthodox Church. The protest campaign to the ruling included director Andrey Zvyagintsev, former presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak, and actors Danila Kozlovsky, Sergey Bezrukov, Maksim Vitorgan and Yelizaveta Boyarskaya. Actor Konstantin Raikin of the Satirikon Theater called it a "misunderstanding that could have a tragic end." In Russia, only a single person can demonstrate without prior permission.

On 20 September 2019 Ustinov was released pending trial, citing his previous military service and personal recommendation from Konstantin Raikin. The prosecutors also changed their stance amidst escalating protests, saying that while they do not dispute Ustinov's guiltiness, they admit that the sentence is too harsh. They had originally asked for six years of prison time. The court also agreed to review video at the later trial.

His case was later commuted to a one-year suspended sentence, granting him parole, by an appeal court.