A court in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city, has fined a 31-year-old man who cut off the Soviet Order of the Red Star from the Bronze Soldier monument, ERR cites the local police.
The court decision has not yet come into effect, so the size of the fine is undisclosed.
ERR reported last night that the man had been identified via CCTV and detained. Inna Tooter, the local police official, stated that the man is facing a fine or up to year in prison. She has also noted that the criminal pleaded guilty and was sorry for what he had done.
“It is clear that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine can affect one’s emotions, but expressing one’s opinion by vandalising a monument is not the right thing to do. There are many legal ways to make one’s say,” Tooter said.
The man is accused of impiety to the dead.
Earlier, the Russian embassy in Estonia called on the local police to find and punish the criminal. “We hope that an immediate investigation of the incident will be a matter of honour for the Estonian police. The perpetrators must be identified and punished — as a warning to those who might follow in their footsteps,” the Russian embassy said in a statement.
