A RUSSIAN woman has burst into tears after finding out she will be locked up for turning a baked good into a hookah.
Ksenia Belousova, 27, filmed herself transforming an Easter cake into a smoking vessel before posting it online, in a stunt that “insulted the feelings of believers” during the Orthodox Easter season.
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Ksenia Belousova, posted the cake-turned-hookah to her social media Credit: East2West
She faced major backlash from pro-government channels after using a recognisable Easter cake Credit: East2West
The former bar worker packed shisha tobacco into a traditional Easter kulich cake while she was working at a hookah lounge in central Moscow.
The kulich is one of the “most recognizable symbols” of the holiday, Meduza reported.
She then uploaded the footage to social media with the caption: “Even Christ rose from that.”
The video was later deleted after she faced backlash from pro-government channels, including Z-blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov.
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The online prank sparked a criminal case under the country’s controversial law protecting religious believers from “offence”.
And last month police arrested Belousova, even after she posted a public apology online.
And she was forced to apologise again on camera.
Investigators said she wanted to “draw public attention to her own professionalism as a hookah master.”
She broke down in tears upon hearing her three year sentence Credit: East2West
The former bar worker made an emotional appeal to the court to not be jailed Credit: East2West
In a municipal court in Moscow’s Lefortovo district, she pleaded guilty and begged the court in an emotional appeal not to send her to prison.
Through tears, she said: “I truly admitted my guilt, I repent, and I consider my actions unacceptable.”
“I am a believer myself, as is my family,” she said.
“I regularly attend church and value and respect everything connected with the church.”
She also added that both her parents and brother were active participants in the Russian military.
But her desperate request was in vain and she was sentenced to spend three years behind bars under Russian despot Vladimir Putin‘s repressive laws.
After hearing her sentence, Belousova sobbed as she was led away by court officers.
She will spend three years and 25 days in a penal colony.
She was also sentenced over drug possession on Wednesday Credit: East2West
She told the court her parents and brother were active members of the Russian military in an attempt to avoid being locked up Credit: East2West
Initially, Belousova was sentenced to 200 hours of community service, but the judge combined the conviction with a three-year probation sentence that she received in August for drug possession to mandate real prison time.
Local critics have slammed the punishment, calling it wildly excessive.
Russian TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak said the 27-year-old could have “lived a normal life” instead of being locked up over “idiocy”.
Exiled news outlet Mediazona reported that Belousova’s father is a distinguished police officer.
Her brother is also a decorated soldier currently fighting in the war against Ukraine.
Belousova said in court that she “occasionally donates to charities,” including those that support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
She is currently employed at T-Bank, according to Mediazona.
