Sculptor Jacques Tilly, head float designer for Duesseldorf’s parade, is on trial in absentia in Moscow, accused of spreading false information about the Russian military.
“Humour can hurt and definitely affect those targeted,” he told AFP in December, promising that the political floats for Monday’s parade would be as “foolish and satirical” as ever.
Tilly, who was informed of the proceedings via Russian pro-democracy activists based in western Germany, said it was the first time he had been charged by a court of law for his floats.
Tilly’s previous work for carnival includes floats depicting Putin taking a bath in blood, as well as the Russian leader behind bars.
The artist’s creations this year include a papier-mache of the Russian president being hit over the head by a face-painted jester marked “satire”, as well as a depiction of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as the devil, with text reading “everyone protects the perpetrators” and “everyone ignores the victims”.
As usual, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the polarising US president are sure to be lampooned across the country.
One of Tilly’s designs for the Duesseldorf carnival features Trump and Putin together feasting on a small blonde woman marked “Europe”.
Another shows Merz and Bavarian leader Markus Soeder riding on a skeleton with a steering wheel – marked “combustion engine”, a reference to their efforts to get the European Union to water down a planned 2035 ban on such cars.