A man with dual Russian-American citizenship has been remanded in custody and accused of “apologising for Nazism,” a court in St. Petersburg said Saturday, AFP reported..

St. George’s tapePhoto: Kommersant photo agency / ddp USA / Profimedia

“(Yurii) Malev was detained on December 8… and charged on the same day. He partially admitted his guilt,” the court’s Telegram message reads.

Malev was accused of supporting Nazism, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison.

The court noted that Malev published two messages on social networks that desecrated the St. George ribbon (two-color black and orange ribbon), a historical symbol of Russian and Soviet military successes.

His messages “expressed clear disrespect for society and Russia’s military glory days,” the court said.

They “are an insult to the memory of the Great Patriotic War and the defenders of the Motherland,” the court added, using the Russian term of the Second World War.

The first message contained sexually explicit language, while the second contained “a photograph of a dead body with instructions on how to wear a St George’s ribbon”, the court was told.

Yury Malev was remanded in custody until February 7, 2024.

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