A judge at Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court sentenced a Czech man to 13 days in jail on Tuesday for staging a protest on Red Square.
Identified as Michal Plamenek, the man was arrested for holding up a sign in English next to Lenin’s Mausoleum on Sunday afternoon, the court’s press service said in a statement.
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No details were provided as to what was written on Plamenek’s sign, but the court press service said a judge ruled that the inscription was “aimed at discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.”
Police officers arrested Plamenek because Red Square directly adjoins the Kremlin, where protests are banned. He allegedly refused to listen to a request by officers to accompany them to a police station and resisted arrest.
A judge found Plamenek guilty on three separate administrative counts of discrediting the Russian military, violating protest rules and disobeying a police officer.
He was also fined a total of 60,000 roubles, around CZK 15,000.
The Czech Foreign Ministry said its embassy in Moscow has been providing the detained man with consular assistance from the outset. It declined to comment further because of the sensitivity of the case.
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