Russian man who called woman of colour ‘monkey’ detained for seven days

A St. Petersburg court sentenced a city resident Nikita Ustuzhanin to seven days of administrative detention for insulting a Rwanda-born blogger Stella Kaziyake because of her skin colour during a bus ride, reports the press service of St. Petersburg’s courts.

The man is being charged with disorderly conduct and incitement to hatred or hostility due to race. He was also sentenced to 50 hours of community service.

The incident happened on Russia Day, 12 June. Ustuzhanin sat down near the woman on the bus and said: “Let’s take a picture together, monkey, I will send it to my wife.”

The blogger posted a video of the incident on social media and filed a report against the man. She noted that the bus driver didn’t take any measures to stop Ustuzhanin from harassing her, however the video shows another passenger coming to her defence.