MOSCOW, April 21 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) – Investigators have charged Nikita Sadkov, the 31-year old resident of the Moscow Region, with desecration of the Russian state flag and incitement of national hatred, attorney Dmitry Dinze told RAPSI on Friday.

According to investigation, on August 15, 2016, Sadkov published on social media an extremist video containing calls aimed at incitement of enmity and hatred against Russian people. A few days after, on August 21, the man set the Russian national flag on fire near the Kremlin.

Sadkov has pleaded not guilty. The man claims that he is being persecuted for his beliefs, according to Dinze.

The defendant believes that he strikes for freedom of speech by publishing his posts on the Internet. Sadkov also insists that the created video was a humorous but he did not publish it in a social network’s group, the lawyer added.