ST. PETERSBURG, March 21 - RAPSI. A St. Petersburg district court has started hearing the criminal case of former MMA fighter and ultranationalist activist Vyacheslav Datsik on Wednesday.

As a professional fighter, Datsik was widely known as "Red Tarzan." He has been charged with robbery and church arson, offenses punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Datsik denied the charges during the hearing.

"I committed the offense, but I plead not guilty," Datsik said, noting that law enforcement agencies committed numerous violations when investigating the case. He said he would not plead guilty as he considers the ruling regime in Russia to be unlawful. Datsik added that the investigators neither questioned several of his witnesses nor established a motive for the crimes.

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 while 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.