The key facts
- The Moscow City Court rejected the appeals against Artem Chekalin's verdict, TASS reports.
- Chekalin was sentenced to seven years in a prison colony for illegally transferring 251 million rubles to the UAE using forged documents.
- Valeria Chekalina received five years suspended and a fine of 765 million rubles; it was previously reported that her jewelry worth 14.4 million rubles went missing.
Appeal rejected
The Moscow City Court rejected the appeals against the verdict of Artem Chekalin — the ex-husband of blogger Lerchek (Valeria Chekalina). This was reported by TASS. The court found the verdict of the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow lawful and left the imposed sentence unchanged.
The essence of the case
Chekalin was sentenced to seven years in a prison colony in a criminal case concerning the illegal transfer of 251 million rubles to the UAE using forged documents. He was found guilty of committing illegal currency operations. He is being held in the Butyrka pre-trial detention center.
Defense arguments
The court did not grant the defense's requests for a suspended sentence. The defense argued that Chekalin is raising three minor children whose mother is seriously ill.
Valeria Chekalina's case
Lerchek was involved in Chekalin's case on similar charges. Due to her treatment for stomach cancer, her case was separated into separate proceedings and suspended, but was later resumed. The blogger was sentenced to five years in a prison colony suspended and a fine of 765 million rubles.
Additional detail
It was previously reported that an investigator lost Lerchek's watches and jewelry worth 14.4 million rubles.
