A court in Moscow has sentenced a Russian stand-up comic of Azerbaijani origin, Idrak Mirzalizade, to 10 days in jail for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred.
The Taganka district court issued the ruling on August 9 after several pro-government media outlets accused Mirzalizade of insulting ethnic Russians in one of his performances.
Mirzalizade pleaded not guilty to the charges, but offered apologies to "all who felt insulted by some parts of my performance which were taken out of context."
In June, he wrote on Instagram that two unknown men attacked him after he received several threats because of his performance.
He also posted a video showing the moment of the attack.
Mirzalizade has said the performance that caused the controversy was about problems faced by non-Russians when they want to rent an apartment in the Russian capital.
In his performance, the comedian joked about what would happen if the perception of Russians by others was based on separate incidents, drawing a parallel with situations that shape prejudices about non-Russians living among Russians.
