In Kurgan, a criminal case was opened against a local resident for desecration of symbols of Russian military glory (Part 3 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code) because she poured water on the Eternal Flame. This is reported by the regional Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs .
Security forces have not released the name of the suspect; she is 55 years old. “According to preliminary data, on the evening of December 18 of this year, a woman came to the pedestal where the Eternal Flame was burning and extinguished it by filling it with water from a bottle she had with her,” writes the Investigative Committee.
The woman was detained after a door-to-door search of the houses adjacent to the pedestal. She was taken to the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for the Kurgan Region. It is currently unknown whether the detainee is going to choose any preventive measure.
In December, a resident of Tatarstan was sentenced to 10 months of correctional labor and part of his salary under a similar article. According to investigators, the man, while intoxicated, came to the local Victory Park and began burning metal wires in the flame of the Eternal Flame in order to sell them for scrap.
- After the start of the war in Ukraine, the number of criminal cases under the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism (Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code) increased sharply. Often the reasons for persecution are actions with the Eternal Flame: for example, lemonade spilled into the Eternal Flame, flowers burned there, a lit cigarette , salt poured out. According to the SOVA research center, many cases under this article are initiated unlawfully and should be classified under other articles of the Criminal Code or resolved within the framework of civil rather than criminal proceedings.