Mass protests were held in late April 2007 after authorities ordered the removal of the Bronze Soldier monument, along with the graves of Soviet soldiers who fought in World War II, from the city center. In the ensuing riots, over 1,000 people were arrested, dozens injured and a Russian national died.
Investigators said on April 26 Zaitsev took part in the mass public disorder in Tallinn and threw stones at police officers.
On January 21, a Tallinn court handed down suspended sentences to four other people found guilty of public order offenses during the April riots in the capital.
The Tallinn court gave Andres Maripuu, 20, an 18-month suspended sentence for looting clothes worth over $2,000 from designer shops during the protests. Alexander Timokhin, 19, received a one-year suspended sentence for breaking a shop window.
Svetlana Karanina, 59, found guilty of attacking a police officer, was given a nine-month suspended sentence. Earlier on that day the court handed a one-year suspended sentence to Andrei Rybakov for throwing stones at police officers and vandalizing plants outside the National Library.
