A St. Petersburg man who says he was a bystander during anti-government rallies last weekend ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration has been fined and given jail time.
An estimated 1,600 people were rounded up during the “He’s Not Our Tsar” demonstrations in Russia on Saturday, two days before Putin assumed his fourth term in office. Mikhail Tsakunov, one of around 200 people arrested in St. Petersburg, was fined for violating public assembly rules and charged with violent conduct against a police officer.
The Dzerzhinsky District Court ordered Tsakunov, 25, to serve two months behind bars until July 5, the Mediazona news website reported Monday.
Tsakunov was accused of chipping a police officer's tooth while resisting his arrest at the protest in St. Petersburg.
The Open Russia political organization’s advocacy branch reported that the court had attached video footage of Tsakunov’s detention, where he is seen being dragged by three OMON anti-riot officers.
Tsakunov, who was reportedly helping a friend hold a deflated duck at the site of the protest, denied the charges of violent conduct.
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