A young man who put out the Eternal Flame, a World War II monument, in the southern city of Astrakhan has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
On the night of Feb. 23, police detained five young men believed to have taken part in extinguishing the flame, near a common grave of Red Army soldiers, prosecutors said Thursday. The suspects were reportedly all students in college or grade school.
It was not immediately clear what punishment, if any, was meted out to the remaining four. The age of criminal responsibility in Russia is 16.
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