The Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced the administrator of the Telegram channel “Hell Grandmas” Alexander Bayazitov to five years in prison, RBC was told in court. Media technologist Olga Arkharova received four and a half years. They were found guilty under paragraph “b” of Part 3 of Art. 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) (extortion). They will serve their sentence in a general regime colony, clarified by the Investigative Committee.
MK.Ru, 11.27.2023, “There will be no posts for five years”: Bayazitova’s reaction to the verdict”: Alexandra Bayazitova briefly commented on the verdict […]. “There will be no posts for five years,” the journalist told her colleagues. — Insert K.ru
The prosecutor’s office previously requested 14 and 13 years in prison for Bayazitova and Arkharova, respectively. They have been under arrest since August 2022. Taking into account that one day in a pre-trial detention center is counted as a day and a half in a colony, they will spend less than the assigned period in custody.
Bayazitova and Arkharova were found guilty of extortion from the senior vice-president, director of the department of financing of industry, energy and housing and communal services of PJSC Promsvyazbank, Alexander Ushakov, “under the pretext of deleting and banning further posting of information in the telegram channel that disgraces him as part of his work activity.” The investigation argued that there were two demands. In one case, they demanded 420 thousand rubles from Ushakov, in another – 1.2 million rubles. Bayazitova did not admit her guilt; Arkharova partially admitted her guilt during the investigation, but then retracted her testimony.
RBC news agency, 11/25/2023, “The victim in the “Hell Grandmas” case asked for leniency for the accused”: Top manager of Promsvyazbank Alexander Ushakov asked to give a suspended sentence to one of the defendants in the case of extortion from him – media manager Olga Arkharova, who, together with another suspect, journalist Alexandra Bayazitova, administered the Telegram channel “Hell Grandmas,” Arkharova’s lawyer Elena Fedulova told RBC .
“At the court hearing, Ushakov asked not to deprive Elena Arkharova of her freedom. He said he had no complaints. We offered him compensation for moral damage, he said that he did not need any compensation, that he simply accepted Arkharova’s apology and asked to impose a punishment not related to imprisonment,” Fedulova said.
She clarified that Arkharova admitted her guilt in full and asked for forgiveness, Bayazitova did neither one nor the other. However, Ushakov asked for leniency for her too. — Insert K.ru
Another channel administrator, Inna Churilova, was also involved in Bayazitova’s case. She entered into a pre-trial agreement, admitted guilt and as a result received four years probation.
Bayazitova’s defense previously pointed out that the woman suffers from diabetes, hypertension and glaucoma, and also helps her mother, who was recently discharged from the hospital. In this regard, State Duma deputy Evgeny Popov called for replacing her preventive measure with house arrest. In turn, the editor-in-chief of RT Margarita Simonyan (*international criminal) characterized the prosecutor’s demands for severe punishment as horror and atrocity.
@margaritasimonyan, 11/15/2023 16:03: I myself, like most public people in the country, regularly find myself a victim of what in our media is considered a common practice that took root back in the 90s and simply migrated from provincial newspapers to a respectable telegram – that is, extortion. When “you give us your lyam, and we won’t write bad things about you.” And if you don’t give it, then, accordingly, they will. And then, based on these letters, various authorities and inspections will come to you.
I have gone through and am going through all this in my own skin, ever since the picnic participants thought that from this skin, like from that black sheep, they could rip off even a tuft of wool. This, unfortunately, is the usual business of a significant part of the unofficial domestic media – and everyone knows about it.
As one late editor-in-chief told me, with whom, it seemed to me, I was almost even friends, and he suddenly began to throw slop at me and my family in his media: “What a pity, isn’t it? Three hundred a month – and everyone will love you.’ — Insert K.ru
