The key facts

  • On November 5, the Moscow City Court ruled Lerchek's verdict lawful; the verdict has come into force
  • Lawyer: with a monthly income of 344,000 rubles, a fine of 765 million rubles would take 1,000–1,200 years to pay off
  • Chekalina was unable to attend the hearing — she was urgently taken to hospital

The verdict has come into force

On the morning of November 5, the Moscow City Court considered the appeal in the case of blogger Valeria Chekalina (Lerchek) and upheld the guilty verdict in the case of illegal multi-million transfers abroad — the decision has come into force. The case was heard by a panel of three judges. This was reported by Gazeta.Ru citing TASS.

Chekalina was not present at the hearing

Chekalina herself had planned to attend the hearing, but in the morning she was urgently taken to hospital. Earlier, on July 31, the Gagarinsky Court of Moscow sentenced her to five years of suspended imprisonment, imposed a fine of 765 million rubles and banned her from administering websites for three years. According to Gazeta.Ru, Chekalina, who is fighting stomach cancer, denied her guilt and asked that no large fine be imposed, citing a lack of funds.

Defense: paying the fine would take more than a thousand years

Lawyer Konstantin Tretyakov told TASS that his client's monthly income is 344,000 rubles. By his calculations, paying off the fine would take from 1,000 to 1,200 years: 'if she had started paying the fine 300 years before the founding of Moscow, she would have paid it off by the present day.' Earlier, Gazeta.Ru also reported that the investigator lost watches and jewelry belonging to Chekalina worth 14.4 million rubles.