Pyotr Pavlensky Nail in Testicles Protest: Russian Police Open Hooliganism Inquiry

An extreme artist who nailed his testicles to a pavement in Red Square now faces a criminal probe by police in Russia.

It seems the authorities are determined to make Pyotr Pavlensky pay for his eye-catching stunt which raised eyebrows worldwide - and probably brought tears to a few eyes as well.

Police are investigating Pavlensky for petty hooliganism and he could face five years in jail if convicted.

Efforts by police to nail Pavlensky for hooliganism follow their failed bid to convince a judge to charge him with the offence a day after the stunt, last week. The jurist ruled police documents did not show he had committed an offence.

The painful stunt was captured on video and showed him naked and pinned to the pavement for 90 minutes in the Russian capital. He claimed it was a performance art piece against the "police state" in Russia.

Explaining his actions in a statement on grani.ru (LINK) Pavlensky said "society condones tyranny and - forgetting their numerical advantage through inaction, brings the triumph of a police state."

"The action can be seen as a metaphor of apathy and political indifference and fatalism of modern Russian society."

Pavlensky's stunt was the latest in a series of shocking shock art displays by the St Petersburg artist, after he sewed his own lips together earlier this year in a statement of solidarity with jailed punk protest band Pussy Riot.