MOSCOW, May 16 (RAPSI) – A prosecutor demanded to sentence Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, accused of burning tyres on St. Petersburg's Maly Konyushenny Bridge, a historic bridge across the Moika River, to two years of custodial restraint, RAPSI learnt in the Preobrazhensky District Court of Moscow on Monday.

However, the prosecutor asked the court to release Pavlensky because the statute of limitation has expired.

Pavlensky is known for a number of controversial performances.

In July 2012, he sewed up his mouth and stood at the Kazan Cathedral with a poster in support of Pussy Riot.

In May 2013, Pavlensky lay down on the ground in front of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly naked with barbed wire around his body.

In November 2013, also naked, Pavlensky nailed his scrotum to the Red Square pavement near the Lenin Mausoleum.

In October 2014, he staged an eccentric stunt on the roof of the Serbsky Mental Institution in Moscow by cutting off one of his earlobes.

In February 2015, Pavlensky and his accomplices burned car tyres, waved Ukrainian flags and banged sheet metal with sticks in a show of solidarity with the anti-government protesters in Ukraine. The performance was held near the Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg.

In November 2015, Pavlensky was arrested on suspicion of setting fire to the Moscow headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB). Several other people who claim to be journalists that were invited to the artist’s performance were arrested along with the artist.