Yury Khovansky

Yury Mikhaylovich Khovansky (Юрий Михайлович Хованский; born 19 January 1990 in Nikolsk, Russia) is a Russian video blogger, comedian, rapper and former Assistant Deputy to State Duma member Vasily Vlasov.

Biography
Khovansky became very interested in music during his childhood and played the bass guitar in amateur rock bands. After high school, his parents wanted him to enter the Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics, but his application was declined. Subsequently, he studied programming at the Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics, but quickly realized that this career did not suit him and dropped out. He finally performed successfully at another university and completed his education.

Before starting his YouTube channel, Khovansky worked as a promoter, a waiter, and a courier.

In the summer of 2017, Khovansky was physically assaulted by a friend of producer Kirill Kalashnikov, allegedly because Khovansky declined an invitation from Kalashnikov. At the police station, Khovansky was offered to deal with Kirill himself due to having a weapon license.

On 9 June 2021 he was detained in St. Petersburg in a criminal case under Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public justification of terrorism). He pleaded guilty for all charges. On June 10, he was placed in pre-trial detention center until trial on August 8.

Internet career
Khovansky created his YouTube channel in September 2011, motivated by dissatisfaction with his professional life. Initially, he uploaded videos of foreign stand-up comedians with his own Russian translations. His subsequent videos centered upon comedic and satirical takes on current social problems, as well as reflections on his personal life. His YouTube projects include That guy with the guitar (Этот парень с гитарой; ) which was a series of humorous songs, and four seasons of Russian Stand-up. Khovansky also collaborated on videos with renowned YouTuber Ilya Maddyson (Ilya Davydov in real life).

Khovansky's unfiltered, honest dialogue attracted an enormous quantity of YouTube users who considered his humor a new wave in modern art, pertaining to the social life of the new generation.

Other iconic shows include Lexplay, Big steaming pile of sketches, Russian Drink Time, [standing], and Shawarma-Patrol. After becoming very famous Khovansky labeled himself the «Emperor of Humor» and strongly emphasized that he was the first stand-up comedian of the Internet.

After the battle, Khovansky recorded satyric music videos in the gangster form, gathering millions of views on YouTube. His first album My gangsta was released in 2017. Currently he is a judge on a rap battle show (Versus Battle) based in St. Petersburg.

Arrest and jailing
On 10 June 2021, Khovansky was arrested and charged with supporting terrorism with a song pertaining to the Nord-Ost Hostage Crisis, a Chechen terrorist event in 2002. The song was recorded during a livestream and uploaded to YouTube. The song contains lyrics about wishing more Russian children would perish at the hands of Chechen terrorists, albeit the delivery of the song puts the content in uneasy contradiction to the light nature of its delivery. According to a criminal investigation conducted by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia, the courts noted that because of his on-screen performativity and glamourizing of the song, he was then supporting the "public justification of terrorism and its propaganda." For breaching Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of Russia, he was given two months in incarceration. However, the song was already public and is recorded to have been on Russian YouTube one year prior.

The vlogger, after having been arrested, partially seceded to the charges against him and requested he be sentenced to an in-house arrest or select activities ban. The Dzerzhinsky District Court rejected his request and put him into pre-trial detention instead. They expressed alarm that if allowed to remain at home, he could continue engaging in harmful behaviors. The courts ruled that the song was justifying terrorism and calling for more acts to be committed. Additionally, Khovansky's position at the State Duma as an Assistant Deputy to Russian politician Vasily Vlasov within the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia [LDPR], was quickly rescinded. This was announced in a public statement by LDPR's Press Secretary Alexander Dyupin.

Primary accuser
The call for legal action against the YouTuber was instigated by Vladislav Pozdnyakov, founder of the Russian jingoist "Мужское государство" [Men's State] movement, the group dedicated towards the promulgation of traditionally patriarchal and conservative values. As reported by The Flow, the proceedings against Khovansky began in February when Pozdnyakov reported him to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On 9 June 2021 Pozdnyakov wrote on his VKontakte page that he was proud of his followers that the "faggot" was arrested in a statement: "'A good thousand denunciations to all the various bodies of the faggot.'" He continues to state that the videos of Khovansky singing the controversial song were originally uploaded to Vkontakte by the blogger Ай, Как Просто!, a hugely popular YouTuber and content creator inside of Russia who mostly talks about technology and digital culture. After having been alerted about Khovansky's videos, he assessed their provocational potency with other NKVD officers before going ahead with asking his followers to reprimand Khovansky and call for his arrest. "'Personally, these videos were sent to me by a subscriber. Having looked at them, I assessed all the prospects of a possible interest in them by young NKVD youths, and called on to write denunciations en masse, as our dids did.'" In the same statement, he also called out the vlogger Dmitry Larin after he made a video about Pozdnyakov in December 2020 where he went into detail about Men's State and its ideology, calling its leader a Fascist among other incendiary positions taken. As a result, Pozdnyakov promised to "punish" the YouTuber in unambiguous terminology. Further, Pozdnyakov called for his followers to closely study all of Larin's content for points of inflammation and unacceptability. "'--- videos, recordings of streams in which Larin could offend the feelings of believers, or justify terrorism and other things that fall under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.'"

Letter about daily life
After his incarceration, he wrote a letter to his friend Ilya Davydov about his treatment within the pre-trial detention facility. He noted that hygiene was nearly impossible and that the only books available were of low literary quality. However, besides these factors he said that the conditions were fair. He also stated that prior to his arrest, he was a supporter of Putin. But following, he no longer supports the President.

Follow-up apology
On 23 July 2021 The Flow reported that Khovansky had written an apology for his involvement with the song, his letter being published on VKontakte by his friend Ilya Davydov early in the morning. In the letter from his cell in pre-trial detention, Khovansky apologized for his usage of the song and to those who were offended by the song's contents and themes. He expressed his remorse for having uttered the song and scorned the song's existence. "'I understand that my song is disgusting and has no excuse. This song is my terrible mistake. Most of all I would like this song never to exist. I offer my deepest apologies to everyone for singing this song,'" However, according to some commenters online, the validity of the letter should be questioned as the picture only shows his signature being handwritten, leading some to speculate on the letter's authenticity.

Further extension
On 7 August 2021 the Kuibyshevsky District Court of St. Petersburg announced that they would be extending Khovansky's detention until 8 September. The detention was furthered due to the investigator's worry that because Khovansky has IT experience, he could delete media and evidence related to the case if released.

Release from detention
On 29 December 2021 the court released Khovansky from detention.

End of the prosecution
On 20 July 2022 the court closed Khovansky's criminal case due to a statute of limitations.