Moscow college student given five-day sentence for Belarusian opposition flag on student ID cover, fined for pro-Ukraine statements

Daniil Voitovich, a student at the Moscow National Research University of Electronic Technology (MIET), has been arrested for having a white-red-white flag on his student ID cover. The Zelenograd District Court of Moscow found him guilty of displaying prohibited symbolism and gave him a five-day administrative detention.

The court also fined Voitovich 35,000 rubles (about $370) under the article on “discrediting” the Russian army for allegedly saying, “The citizens of the Russian Federation and the government of the Russian Federation are fascists, unlike the citizens of Ukraine,” and “Glory to Ukraine,” in the presence of students and a teacher.

According to the court, the white-red-white flag is a symbol of the Kastus Kalinouski battalion, which, the decision states, is a Freedom of Russia Legion “branch on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.”

The 18-year-old student was reported to authorities by Farid Abdullin, a university employee “responsible for mobilization preparation,” according to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Novosti.