Czech man gets fine and 13 days' custody for anti-war protest on Red Square


FILE PHOTO: People walk through Red Square near Kremlin towers, St. Basil's Cathedral and the State Historical Museum in Moscow, Russia, September 10, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova/File Photo

MOSCOW, Sept 22 (Reuters) - ⁠A Czech man who staged a solo ⁠protest on Moscow's Red Square against Russia's war ‌in Ukraine has been fined and sentenced to 13 days in custody, a court said on Tuesday.

The Moscow court said ​Michal Plaminek had held up a ⁠poster with a ⁠message in English that discredited Russia's armed forces - an ⁠offence ‌under censorship laws that were passed soon after Moscow launched its full-scale war in ⁠Ukraine in 2022.

Violating those laws typically leads ​to an ‌initial fine, but repeat offenders can face full ⁠criminal trials ​and long jail terms.

The court said Plaminek's protest took place on Sunday and was also illegal because ⁠of its location near President Vladimir ​Putin's Kremlin residence. It added that he had resisted arrest.

A Facebook page in Plaminek's name was updated on ⁠Sunday to show a young man posing for a photo in front of St Basil's Cathedral on Red Square. No poster was visible in the ​image.

Other posts on the same ⁠profile expressed support for Ukraine and called on ​Western countries to unite to prevent ‌Russia from winning the war.

(Reporting ​by Mark Trevelyan; additional reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

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