A Dutch citizen is sentenced to 3 years in prison Russia for punching a police officer

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court sentenced a Dutch citizen to three years in prison Wednesday after he was found guilty of punching a police officer.

Harry Johannes van Wurden was arrested and placed under house arrest following an altercation with a police officer in central Moscow in October, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing police. It said that van Wurden punched the officer in the face following a disagreement about a knocked-down road sign.

Van Wurden was found guilty of using violence against a government official by the capital’s Khamovnichesky District Court, Russia’s Interfax news agency said. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

A number of foreign nationals from the U.S. and Western Europe have been jailed in high-profile cases in Russia in recent years.

Some analysts have said that Moscow may be using jailed Westerners as bargaining chips as tensions remain high over the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine.

Those detained included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. All three Americans, who were freed as part of the largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War in August 2024, vehemently denied the charges brought against them, which range from espionage to spreading false information against the Russian army.