Former Wah!Banana actor reflects on 3 years in jail, acquittal of rape charges & future plans

Former Wah!Banana actor Lev Panfilov has given his account of his time facing trial and imprisonment for charges of rape and sexual assault that were eventually overturned on appeal.

In a post on Instagram, Panfilov, 30, compared his life to movies, and how the genre of his life changed from “feel good” to thriller to courtroom drama.

Crediting his family for fighting for him from the outside, he said that he had not just learnt how to survive, but had learnt to live during his time in prison.

Conviction and acquital

In May 2025, Panfilov was convicted of raping, sexually assaulting, and molesting a woman in his flat in January 2021.

He was sentenced to 11 years and six months in jail, as well as 12 strokes of the cane.

At the time, he had already spent over a year in prison, after he had his bail revoked when he attempted to leave Singapore, in what he told CNA was a “foolish decision” to try to visit his terminally ill grandfather in Russia.

But on Sep. 2, Panfilov was cleared of all charges, after the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions, after a panel of three judges said they found inconsistencies in the alleged victim's testimony, giving rise to a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

Movies of different genres

Nearly a month later, on Oct. 2, Panfilov shared his thoughts on the ordeal.

Panfilov said that he had always loved movies, but that he had not anticipated that he would spend “five and a half years guessing what genre mine had become.”

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lev Panfilov (@levpanf)

He compared his life initially to a “feel-good movie”, and that at the age of 24, he was acting, fencing, and making comedy videos, with a scholarship to study acting in New York.

But then, he said that his life became a “thriller” in “the blink of an eye”, as he had been accused of something he said he did not do.

His future was put on hold, but he thought, wrongly as it would turn out, that “it would all be over soon.”

Panfilov spoke about his father, whom he last saw in 2017, who passed away from an aggressive brain tumour in Russia while Panfilov was under investigation.

Panfilov was unable to gain permission to visit him, having tried twice, and was ultimately only allowed to travel after his father had passed away.

He said that he had stood at his father’s grave, recalling the 2001 film A Knight’s Tale, where the main character was encouraged to flee after he was found to be illegally participating in a tournament.

But Will, the movie’s main character, refused, and Panfilov compared himself to that example, deciding that he would return to Singapore to face trial.

Trial and imprisonment

Panfilov said that the trial took 20 days, with three sets of lawyers, legal fees costing nearly S$500,000 and years of legal proceedings, resulting in 11 and a half years in prison.

He shared the grimness of his time in prison, with 23 hours a day spent in a seven-square-metre cell with only one hour a day in the yard and a straw mat to sleep on.

“For a long time”, he said “this became my world.”

He found solace in books, faith, in friends and family, even singing a cappella in his cell, and reciting comedy.

He also paid tribute to his mother, whom he said that while he “fought from the inside, she fought for me on the outside”

“I didn’t just learn to survive. I learned to live.”

Feel-good-movie

He also credited his lawyers and his partner, who had stood by him “through it all”, and that after five and a half years, his appeal was heard and his conviction was overturned.

Reflecting on his experience, he said that maybe his life was a “feel-good movie after all.”

Panfilov said he did not know what would come next, but that for the first time in a long time, “I get to choose.”