“No posts will be published for five years”
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.
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 Arkharov were found guilty of extorting the senior vice president, director of the department of financing of industry, energy and housing and communal services of Promsvyazbank PJSC Alexandra Ushakova “under the pretext of deleting and prohibiting further posting of information in the telegram channel that disgraces him as part of his work activities.” 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.
“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.
![Alexander Ushakov](https://ruscrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/1701101250_547_The-administrator-of-the-Hell-Grandmas-telegram-channel-Alexandra-Bayazitova.jpg)
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.
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.’