Penza, 23 July 2018. PenzaNews. Punishment in the form of administrative arrest for a period of one day was chosen for regional coordinator of Left Front Victor Khomets, who alone placed a 10-metre banner with the inscription "United Russia, damn you for retirement age increase!" at the fence of an overpass in Penza on July 17.

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He was found guilty by court in repeated violation of established order of conduct or organization of a protest.

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However, Victor Khomets insisted that if he did violate something, these were only the rules of advertising. The opposition activist presented to the court photographs featuring other banners at bridges and overpasses including those of political nature and assumed that the persons who had placed them had not been prosecuted for violating the law on rallies and protests.

The judge of the Zheleznodorozhny district administration of Penza, Lyudmila Demina, did not agree with his opinion considering his campaign as a public event.

The press service of the regional department of Left Front specified that the sentence commenced at 9.00 on Monday, July 23, and Victor Khomets will serve it in a detention centre in Lesnoy village.