ST. PETERSBURG, March 15 - RAPSI. A St. Petersburg district court has extended for six months on Thursday an arrest of a former MMA fighter and ultranationalist activist Vyacheslav Datsik.

As a professional fighter, Datsik was widely known as "Red Tarzan."

He and his defense attorney requested the court to change the measure of restraint from confinement to release on bail or house arrest. However, the court decided to keep him in jail as he presents a high flee risk and may continue his criminal activities if released, the court said.

The court will hear on March 21 the first hearing in Datsik's case.

His defense attorney Vadim Degtyaryov earlier said Datsik was charged with robbery and church arson.

Datsik was arrested in Russia in 2007 and accused of robbing cell phones shops in St. Petersburg. Russian psychiatrists declared him schizophrenic, absolving him of criminal liability for the robberies. Later, he escaped the mental institution where he was supposed to be treated.

Datsik was detained with a loaded handgun when seeking asylum in an Oslo immigration office in September. In late December, a Norwegian court sentenced him to eight months in jail for illegally possessing the weapon.

He was then deported to Russia for prosecution.

Datsik is reported to be a member of the Slavic Union ultranationalist movement, which is banned in Russia but reportedly has an office in Norway.

A psychiatric examination conducted last November found Datsik mentally sane.