00:00Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin facing off with Europe caught in between.
00:04The U.S. president striking at Christian values.
00:07These carnival floats don't just entertain, they take aim at those in power.
00:13This year, Dusseldorf's Rose Monday parade unfolded against a serious backdrop.
00:19Jacques Tilley, the artist behind these works, has been accused in a Moscow court of defaming President Putin.
00:26Of course we'll keep going.
00:28We can't let ourselves be intimidated, that's the whole point of the trial, to scare people, to silence them, to
00:34make them tone down their criticism.
00:36I can't give in to that. Absolutely not. That would be absurd.
00:42Because this isn't just an attack on me, it's an attack on the freedom of all of us.
00:49Rose Monday parades and strongholds like Germany's Rhineland are a tradition that dates back to the 1800s,
00:56when carnival became a way to mock authorities.
01:00Jacques Tilley has shaped Germany's carnival for decades, targeting political leaders across the globe.
01:06His floats are built in Dusseldorf's Wagenbau Halle.
01:10Tilley and his team work under strict secrecy on the satirical motto floats.
01:14I look at the political debate, but I'm not creating work just for an educated elite.
01:20It speaks to everyone. I need simple images and instantly recognisable figures.
01:25Putin has been a reoccurring figure in Tilley's art.
01:29In December 2025, Russian authorities accused him of discrediting the Russian army and spreading false information,
01:36charges that could mean years in a Russian prison.
01:39Since Tilley is in Germany, he'd only face arrest if he travels to country with extradition agreements with Russia.
01:46It's the first time that Russia is putting a German citizen on trial in absentia for artwork created in Germany.
01:54I haven't received a letter, a summons, an invitation, not even a phone call from my supposed court-appointed lawyer.
02:00Nothing at all.
02:01By now, I find the trial almost amusing.
02:05Putin is making himself look ridiculous, lashing out at papier-mâché figures with the full force of the courts and
02:13of the state.
02:17He'd rather take a swing at the figures himself.
02:20The floats are dismantled on the day after the parade.
02:24Meanwhile, the Russian case against Jacques Tilley is pending.
02:27Since the charges were filed in December, the trial has been postponed several times.
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