A Russian court has sentenced three people to eight to 10 years in prison for participating in a demonstration in the south of the country in April 2020 against health restrictions imposed that day to combat the spread of Covid-19.

The main defendant, opera singer Vadim Cheldiev, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for extremism for his online call for a protest in Vladikavkaz in the Russian Caucasus and beating policemen during his detention a few days later in St. Petersburg, RIA Novosti reported IA Interfax.

The agencies reported that the Rostov-on-Don court also sentenced Ramis Cherkinov to eight years in prison and Arsen Besulov to eight and a half years in prison. The three defendants will serve their sentences in heavily guarded prisons.

And in April 2020, that is, at the beginning of Covid-19, severe restrictions were introduced in most of Russia to combat the outbreak of the pandemic.