MOSCOW, December 22 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Monday upheld the house arrest of three young people charged with painting the star and hoisting a Ukrainian flag on a high-rise building in Moscow, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

The court thus rejected an appeal filed by Anna Lepeshkina, Alexander Pogrebov and Alexei Shirokozhukh seeking to mitigate their house arrest for basic travel restrictions. They will remain under house arrest until January 20. A complaint filed by the fourth defendant Yevgeniya Korotkova will be considered later.

The defendants told the gathered press that they will file an apllication with the European Court of Human Rights, basing it on the case being political and the investigation protracted.

On August 20, a Ukrainian flag was spotted on the spire of the skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment in central Moscow. The Soviet star on the spire was painted blue and yellow, the national colors of Ukraine.

Four young people with special climbing equipment were detained in the aftermath of the incident, charged with hooliganism and placed on house arrest. The four suspects said they were jumping from the high-rise building with parachutes when someone else painted the star and hoisted a Ukrainian flag on its spire.

They face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

The fifth suspect, Vladimir Podrezov from St. Petersburg, was arrested a few days later. Unlike the other four suspects, the court ruled to detain him. His attorney Vadim Lisitsyn said that Podrezov is not guilty of the crime with which he was charged.

The sixth suspect in the star-painting case, Kirill Ishutin, was arrested on drug possession charges. He faces up to 10 years in prison.