MOSCOW – Moscow City Court has upheld the arrest in absentia of the Ukrainian prankster Nikita Kuvikov (aka Evgeniy Volnov), who spread disinformation about the number of victims of fire at a shopping mall in Kemerovo, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.
“The March 28 ruling by Moscow’s Basmanny court which ordered Kuvikov to be restrained in the form of custodial detention, is to remain without change and the appeal without satisfaction,” the court ruled.
Therefore the lower-court ruling has come into effect and Kuvikov will be arrested for two months once he is extradited to or caught in Russia.
In Russia the prankster stands accused of inciting hatred or animosity and has been placed on the international wanted list.
According to the inquiry, Kuvikov publicly spread false information about the number of victims in the Kemerovo fire, “misleading the relatives of the dead and injured, thereby trying to destabilize the situation.”
The fire broke out at Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping and entertainment center on March 25. It started on the top floor, where movie halls were located and were there many children at the time. The official death toll is 60 people.
