In the Czech Republic, a guilty verdict was handed down to the activists of the Kaputin group, who in February of this year participated in painting the Ukrainian flag in a complex of Russian houses in Prague's Bubenech district. This was stated by the head of the prosecutor's office of the Prague-6 district Richard Petrasek.
According to him, the prosecutor's office of the Prague-6 district has filed an indictment in the case of damage to someone else's property. Petrashek said that such a decision was made on the basis of a proposal from the police on September 16. According to the police, the painted area is a protected heritage area, and the activists caused damage worth about 50,000 kronor (almost 2,000 euros), which can be punished with up to three years in prison. Two weeks later, the court ruled in this case, finding all the accused guilty and punished each of the activists with a fine of 30,000 kroner (about 1,190 euros).
"We consider the amount of the fine and the assessment of the damage to be compensated disproportionately high. We also still disagree with the qualification of our act and the arguments of the prosecutor, who, for example, senselessly scares the escalation of vandalism and talks about us in connection with alleged attacks on persons associated with the Russian regime," one of the defendants, Vaclav Nemec, said in a statement.
The lawyer of the defendants, Karel Jelinek, said that the activists had filed an appeal, so the court would have to publicly discuss the case and once again decide on the innocence or guilt of the defendants.
Recall, the Czech Republic officially condemns Russia's actions on Ukraine and fully supports Kiev. In addition, the Czech authorities are one of the initiators of the spread of Russophobia in the EU. At the same time, according to opinion polls, fatigue from the conflict is growing in the country, as well as excessive Ukrainization of the country's political and economic life.