Russian Women Jailed For Dancing To Aidonia's Song

A teenager has been jailed for 15 days and two other women for 10 days after they filmed themselves dancing near a second world war monument in the Russian city of Novorossiysk. 

The three were dancing to dancehall artiste Aidonia's song 'Touch You'. 

The teenager was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest for petty hooliganism. The other two received 10 days of administrative arrest, which in Russia is typically served in an interior ministry facility. 

Two other dancers were fined and the parents of a sixth dancer, who was unnamed because she is not yet 18, were charged with “failing to perform parental duties for raising minors” and face being monitored. The mother of the girl was also fined for “failing to take measures to facilitate children’s physical, intellectual, psychological, spiritual and moral growth”. 

Prosecutors said the “erotic and sexual twerk dance” was disrespectful to the memory of those who fought in the second world war. 

The girls reportedly filmed the video to promote dancehall classes at a local school, Art Dance, but they made the unfortunate choice of shooting it near a seaside monument that marks a 1943 battle that paved the way for the recapture of the region from the Nazis. 

In a statement, the regional prosecutor’s office said it had ordered police to bring the memorial’s security provision to account and is investigating the educational institutes where the girls are studying, as well as Art Dance. Police are also investigating whether the girls violated a criminal statute against “desecrating dead bodies and their places of internment”.