Czech man jailed for 13 days after protest on Moscow’s Red Square

A Czech citizen has been sentenced to 13 days in detention after staging a solo protest on Moscow’s Red Square, according to a Russian court. He was also fined a total of 60,000 rubles.

The court said the man displayed a sign near Lenin’s Mausoleum on Sunday with an English-language message that “discredited” Russia’s armed forces. Russian reports did not specify what the sign said.

The court also found that he had violated restrictions on protests near the Kremlin and disobeyed police orders. These are the court’s findings; no account from the man or his lawyer was included in the reports.

The Czech Embassy in Moscow has been providing him with consular assistance since the beginning of his detention, Czech Foreign Ministry spokesman Adam Čörgő told ČTK. The ministry declined to comment further, citing the sensitivity of the case.

According to the court’s account, the man held up the sign near the mausoleum on Sunday afternoon. Its press service said security officers detained him because the location is close to the Russian president’s residence, where public gatherings are prohibited. It also said he resisted when officers tried to take him to a police station.

The court imposed the 13-day administrative detention and two separate fines of 40,000 and 20,000 rubles. His name has been reported as Michal Plamínek, though the Czech Foreign Ministry’s statement did not identify him.

Russia introduced restrictions on statements about its military shortly after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Under those rules, authorities can penalize public comments they deem to “discredit” the armed forces. The wording on the Czech man’s sign has not been made public in the accounts cited by the court.

For now, the Czech ministry has confirmed only its consular involvement. It has not provided details about his condition or any steps it may take following the ruling.