A Moscow district court sentenced on Friday businessman Sergei Virolaynen to one year in a penal colony settlement for shooting a Russia Today TV channel female journalist in the foot with a non-lethal handgun.
Virolaynen, 35, a chief executive of a St. Petersburg company, shot Natalya Arkhiptseva in Moscow's Prado Cafe with a rubber bullet on October 9 last year. The victim said he opened fire after she objected to being sworn at by him and his friends as she walked passed their table.
The Tagansky court also ordered Virolaynen to pay 300,000 rubles ($10,000) in damages, partially satisfying the victim's demand of 1 million rubles ($33,000).
During the investigation, Virolaynen stayed in St. Petersburg on a pledge not to leave the city.
The shooting sparked calls to ban the use of non-lethal weapons by civilians in Russia.
At present, Russians have the right to carry non-lethal weapons bought under an easily-obtainable license.
MOSCOW, March 11 (RIA Novosti)
