Dmitry Kuznetsov, better-known by his stage name Husky, was a minor star on Russia's flourishing hip hop scene until police arrested him last month for staging an impromptu concert from the roof of a parked car.
A brief brush with the law has boosted the rapper's profile and turned his I'll Sing My Music single into a national battle cry against arts censorship.
Husky is by no means the only artist feeling the heat as Russia cracks down on alternative music. But the public outcry about his case has highlighted the risks the Kremlin faces as it moves to exert control over Russian youth's favourite form of
musical entertainment.
Husky had leapt on to the roof of a car to perform in the southern city of Krasnodar on November 21st after a local club, citing concern about Russian anti-extremist laws, abruptly cancelled a gig he had planned. The following day he was
sentenced to 12 days in police detention on twin charges of petty hooliganism and refusing to take a drink and drugs test. Government censorship
In a surprise development Husky was released a few hours before his next performance having served less than half of his sentence. Navalny, who attended the Moscow concert with his family, said the authorities had let the rapper out not just
because they are scared but because they know they are in the wrong.
Russia's media censor says it has found material on BBC websites that broadcast the ideological attitudes of international terrorist organisations.
