Don't kick our Buddha in the nose! And better be drunk than sorry if you do kick.

Temple of Buddha in Elista

This surreal story started about two days ago.

The incident took place in Elista [Kalmykia] on Saturday night, April 2nd. A 22-year-old athlete [from Dagestan] with teammates free from the competition went to a Buddhist temple, urinated [or defecated, it is unclear from the various reports] right there, and kicked a statue of Buddha in the nose. He shared this act on a social network Periscope.

Here is a (poor) screenshot of the hero wrestler kicking the statue:

Elista residents who have seen this video, arrived at the hotel where the athlete stayed and forced him to apologize on his knees. Further development of the conflict was stopped when the police arrived at the hotel. Resident of Dagestan was detained and taken to the department of Ministry of Internal Affairs.

And the process of retribution was recorded too, also poorly:

The tournament in freestyle wrestling was canceled. As the organizers explained, the decision was dictated by the fact that the incident cast a shadow over the event.

But, kneeling or not kneeling, the perp remained in the nick, and the authorities decided to take it to heart for a change. The consequences of the extracurricular activity might be quite serious for the hooligan in question:

The athlete from Dagestan, who desecrated a statue of Buddha in Elista, may be associated with terrorist groups such as prohibited in the Russian Federation "Islamic State" (IS/ISIL). This opinion was expressed on Sunday, April 3, at the radio station "Moscow Speaks" by a member of the council of state religious expertise at the Ministry of Justice, Roman Silantyev.

"If he [the athlete] was in a state of sobriety, then he is a fighter from the Wahhabist Brothers. And the discussion with him will be quite serious. That is, he will certainly be imprisoned, and not necessarily just for that offence. It will surely turn out that he has transferred money to ISIL, supported them on social networks etc. In general, this may result in more than just two years," - said the expert.

As you can see, the powers that be decided to throw at the perp not just the whole book but all the addendums and interpretations of the criminal codex.

Well, that's it. Nothing more to see here, let's move along, folks.