But the open flame happen to be the eternal flame honoring fallen soldiers and commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
The video of the cookout shows Sin'kova apparently explaining her performance to nearby police officers, who do nothing to stop her.
But now more than three months after the "performance", Anna Sin'kova has been arrested and charged with "desecrating a grave". She faces up to five years in prison. On April 11, the Kiev court of appeals refused to release her on bail.
Anna Sin’kova, 20, is a leader of the Ukrainian art group “Brotherhood of Saint Luke”. She sent this written comment from jail through her lawyer:
"I do not regret my performance for a single second, even after being interrogated for four hours without my lawyer, and despite the pressure I have been subjected to while in jail. The accusations against me are absurd and ridiculous.
The media distorted the original message behind my performance.
They say I desecrated a grave, but it’s quite the opposite. The eternal flame is not a grave, it’s a propaganda memorial for a totalitarian communist regime [the former USSR]. It is the biggest desecration of the memory of the victims of a terrible war, many of whom, including my grand-grandfather, were dedicated orthodox Christians. The cult of “The Great Victory”, invented by the Kremlin [Sin'kova believes that the Russian government uses Soviet-era wartime symbols to project national greatness], has nothing to do with the real veterans and victims of the war. That's why I made this performance. If it was a desecration, it was a desecration of a Soviet propaganda object, not soldiers' graves.
Like a spy from a Hollywood movie, I was arrested as I exited a supermarket by men in black balaclavas. I was interrogated without my lawyer by three plainclothes policemen, who threatened me and told me I was a traitor. I have been kept in a cell with 20 other people, and was denied medical care when I came down with a very high fever.
My lawyers are preparing an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights. I hope for a favorable decision.
When I am set free I will continue to fight for this just cause. The authorities want to scare us patriots, or put us in jail. But we're not going to stand aside watching as Ukrainian sovereignty is sold to the Kremlin in return for natural gas and favours for local oligarchs.”
