MOSCOW, July 2 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – The Elista City Court in the Republic of Kalmykia had sentenced Said Osmanov, a native of Dagestan, to a two-year probation for desecrating a Buddha statue located in the central Elista, the court’s press-service informed RAPSI on Thursday.

“The court has given Osmanov a two-year suspended sentence a one-year probation,” the court spokeswoman said.

In early April the Elista City Court detained Osmanov for two months and in June extended his detention for yet another month after a criminal case over a “violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religion.” After the Kalmykia Supreme Court had reversed Osmanov’s detention, he was arrested again on charges of “instigating hatred or enmity on grounds of race and ethnicity.” Under the respective articles of the Russian Penal Code this crime is punishable by up to 7 years in prison.

According to the republic’s authorities, the incident took place on the night of April 1 in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia. A native of Dagestan, who had come to Kalmykia for participation in the Russian National Freestyle Wrestling Championship, entered a Buddhist temple along with his friends and desecrated the shrine.