MOSCOW (Reuters) -A person with twin U.S.-Russian nationality has been positioned in pre-trial custody in St Petersburg for “rehabilitating Nazism” in posts on social media, town’s court docket service mentioned on Saturday.
Yuri Malev was charged over posts through which he was alleged to have denigrated the St George’s ribbon, a logo of Russian navy valour. One contained obscene language and the opposite confirmed an image of a corpse carrying the ribbon.
The court docket service mentioned this confirmed disrespect for society and insulted the reminiscence of the Nice Patriotic Warfare, as Russians check with World Warfare Two.
The U.S. State Division mentioned it was conscious of the reported detention however had no additional touch upon the case. Representatives for Malev couldn’t be instantly reached.
The court docket service assertion mentioned Malev, who was detained in St. Petersburg on Friday, had “partially admitted guilt”, however didn’t elaborate. He was positioned in custody till Feb. 7.
A number of Individuals and twin residents are being held in Russia, together with former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Avenue Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich. Earlier this week, the State Division mentioned Russia had rejected a considerable proposal to launch each males, who’ve been charged with spying, an allegation the US has denied.
Final week, a Russian court docket prolonged the pre-trial detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, charged with failing to register as a “overseas agent”, an offence that carries as much as 5 years in jail.