A court in Baku sentenced French street artist Théo Clerc, 38, on Tuesday, September 10, to three years’ imprisonment for a graffiti incident he committed on March 30 in the Azerbaijan capital’s metro system. Two other street artists who accompanied him, a New Zealander, Ismael De-Saint Quentin, and an Australian, Paul Han, received simple fines for the same offense. “There’s no difference between the three cases, apart from nationality,” insisted their Azerbaijani lawyer Elchin Sadigov.
The three men have each already paid a fine of €3,500 to cover the cost of removing their graffiti. Only the Frenchman was immediately imprisoned for three months, while his two companions were banned from leaving Azerbaijan pending trial. “The article of the criminal code for which Mr. Clerc was convicted does not provide for a prison sentence. The verdict is simply illegal,” a source close to the case told Le Monde.
The three artists, a group of long-time friends, had arrived in Azerbaijan on March 25 as part of an international tour, a common practice in the world of street art. They each created a graffiti piece on three separate trains. The works, photographed by Le Monde, consist of stylized letters and are not politically motivated. “My clients were arrested by the police at Baku airport on March 31, as they were about to leave the country. They were slapped during the first interrogation, but were not subjected to violence afterward,” said Sadigov, one of the few Azerbaijani lawyers to defend those prosecuted on political grounds.
Warning from the French Foreign Ministry
Théo Clerc, a film and fashion designer who also enjoys a high profile in Parisian street art circles, was only able to receive a visit from the French consul on May 29, after two months in detention. “It happened just after I had visited my brother in the prison visiting room,” said Charlie Clerc, 39, a computer graphics designer from the Paris region. “On my first visit, in June, Théo was afflicted with tics; very nervous, he had memory lapses, he was unrecognizable,” recalled Charlie Clerc. His brother made some “bizarre” requests over the phone, such as “painting an Azerbaijani flag next to the Eiffel Tower.” Then, on the next call, Théo Clerc said to his brother: “Above all, don’t do what I said last week.”
Charlie Clerc is very worried about his younger brother’s fragile health, prone to attacks of pericarditis in winter. “Théo’s two friends will soon be deported and there will be no one left to bring him parcels,” feared Charlie Clerc, who, as a father of two, dreaded having to return to Azerbaijan to help his brother.
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