Czech Republic deports a Russian student for filming a man spraying some graffiti on a wall

27. 4. 2016

Russian student Igor Shevtsov (20) has spent three months in a Czech prison on the basis of a suspicion, held by the Czech police, that since he is an anarchist, he must have firebombed the residence of the Czech Defence Secretary Martin Stropnický. The Czech Defence Secretary's private residence was firebombed last year, but the culprit has not been found. No evidence was supplied to the courts linking Shevtsov to the crime and on Wednesday, Shevtsov was found not guilty of this offence by the Prague Municipal Court. The court has nevertheless ordered that Shevtsov should be deported from the Czech Republic. The reason? Shevtsov had filmed another person painting a slogan on the wall of a Czech prison. The slogan said: "Repression will not stop our desire for freedom". The court has decreed that by filming the action, Shevtsov is guilty of "participating in painting the slogan" and hence must be deported.

In 2015, the Czech police detained Shevtsov in prison for three months on the basis of their suspicion that he is an anarchist and is in contact with Czech anarchists. The Czech police was warned about Shevtsov by the Russian Federal Security Service. In Russia, Shevtsov was repeatedly punished for organising unregistered demonstrations, for instance a demonstration against the annexation of Crimea.

Recently, a number of shops in Prague have been daubed with anti-refugee and neofascist graffiti, a muslim has been  knifed and an alternative refugee help centre Klinika has been firebombed. No one has been charged for these offences.

Source in Czech HERE

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