Mexican authorities say a court has sentenced a Russian man to nearly 40 years in prison after finding him guilty of stabbing a man during a fight in the Mexican resort of Cancun.
The attorney general in the Mexican state where Cancun is located said in a statement that the state court handed down a 37 1/2-year sentence against Aleksei Makeyev on July 16.
He was also ordered to pay a $21,000 fine.
Police said a crowd had stormed Makeyev's apartment in the Caribbean resort on May 19, after he had posted insulting remarks about local people in videos on social media. In some of Makeyev's postings, he was shown using Nazi symbols.
Makeyev's defense lawyer argued the stabbing, which occurred during the melee, was an act of self-defense.
Mexico's National Migration Institute said in a statement earlier this year that multiple complaints had been filed against Makeyev because of his behavior. He reportedly lost his job at an aquatic center in Cancun in 2015 due to his actions.
It was unclear whether he would be deported. Russia's Embassy in Mexico told the RIA Novosti news agency that Makeyev had not made a request to return to his home country.
