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MOSCOW, January 22 The Zamoskvoretsky court of Moscow sent blogger Elena Blinovskaya to a pre-trial detention center due to violation of the conditions of house arrest, a correspondent from the courtroom reported.
“»The investigation's request is satisfied, a preventive measure is chosen against Blinovskaya in the form of detention for a term of up to 26 April,” Judge Artem Ustinov announced the decision.
The defendant was handcuffed in the courtroom. Later, the Moscow prosecutor's office clarified that the blogger was sent to pre-trial detention center-6.
According to the investigator, on December 23, Blinovskaya held a party at her home, which was attended by more than 15 people. Among the guests was Victoria Asmolova, a witness in her criminal case, which was a violation of the preventive measure.
The information was confirmed to the investigators by Asmolova herself, who Blinovskaya common business interests.
According to lawyer Natalia Salnikova, the defense only learned on December 27 that Asmolova was a witness in the case. Prior to this, the investigation did not provide a list, despite requests.
“»I had no idea that she (Asmolova. — Ed.) could be a witness in the case, since during the period described in the criminal case, we did not even know her. We have been friends with her since February 2022, we are in no way connected with tax matters, as well as with marathons, she was organizing a party, this is not prohibited by law, friends come to me from time to time. I have no idea who the witnesses in the case are, I know that there is an approximate total number of them, and that’s all,” Blinovskaya said.
In the final remark, the investigator noted that the accused could be disingenuous, since Asmolova appears in the case materials, her company received loans from the money received after Blinovskaya’s trainings. Salnikova’s lawyer responded to this that there is no such information in the case materials.
The defense does not deny the fact of communication between Blinovskaya and Asmolova at the party. In addition, the blogger expressed her readiness to repay the debt, but the final amount of the arrears has not yet been established.
The substantiation of the petition also noted that Blinovskaya’s large family can do without their mother, since her husband is at large.
As the investigator added, he doubts the sincerity of Blinovskaya, who previously said that she partially agreed with the tax claims, but now assures of her innocence.
The “queen of marathons” was detained in April 2023. She was accused of tax evasion and money laundering on an especially large scale and was put under house arrest.
According to the investigation, Blinovskaya received large income from the sale of educational courses, but used a simplified accounting system. Thus, she did not pay the VAT and personal income tax provided for by the general taxation system. The Investigative Committee calculated that the blogger for 2019-2021 did not pay taxes totaling more than 918 million rubles.
Today, the investigation brought a new charge against Blinovskaya — two episodes of illegal circulation of means of payment, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.