Russia upholds detention of American Joseph Tater for assaulting police officer
PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. citizen Joseph Tater, accused of petty hooliganism, attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, in this handout picture released on August 14, 2024. Moscow City Court Press Service/Handout via Reuters
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Thursday denied an appeal from U.S. citizen Joseph Tater against his arrest for assaulting a police officer, Moscow's city court said in a statement.
Tater was first detained in August and jailed for 15 days for petty hooliganism after he was alleged to have abused staff at a Moscow hotel, something he denied.
The Interfax news agency reported that Tater had subsequently assaulted a police officer, leading to a fresh criminal case being opened against him. The charge is punishable by up to five years in prison.
It was not clear how Tater had pleaded to the assault charge and Reuters could not immediately reach his lawyer.
Tater is one of at least ten Americans currently behind bars in Russia.
On Tuesday, a court in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad sentenced an American named Daniel Joseph Schneider to six years in prison on charges of kidnapping his own son from the boy's mother and trying to bring him out of Russia via Poland.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
