The Central District Court of Sochi arrested two-time Russian cross-country champion Nikolai Zimirev for 15 days under a protocol on the demonstration of extremist symbols (Part 1 of Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). The Caucasian Knot reports this with reference to the court decision.
Zimirev was arrested on February 22, but this became known only today. According to the text of the court ruling, he published an anti-war white-blue-white flag on his social networks, which, according to the Russian authorities, is associated with paramilitary units of Russians fighting in Ukraine on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As noted by “Caucasus. Realii”, the reason for the protocol was the athlete’s post on VKontakte with a photograph of a rally in Tbilisi. Its participants held white-blue-white flags in their hands.
Zimirev did not admit his guilt, the court also confiscated the “subject of an administrative offense” from him.
Nikolai Zimirev is a former member of the coaching staff of the Russian cross-country skiing team. The athlete openly supports Alexei Navalny. The day after the murder of an oppositionist in a colony in Kharp, Zimirev laid flowers at the Sochi memorial to victims of political repression, after which he was detained by police. Then he was released without a protocol.
On February 21, Zimirev came to the police department in the Central District of Sochi to draw up a report. After this, the athlete’s relatives and activists were unable to contact him for several days.