The Lyubertsy City Court sentenced Rosderzhava journalist Alexander Dorogov to ten and a half years in a maximum security colony, and his colleague Yan Katelevsky to nine and a half years in a maximum security colony. This was reported by a Mediazona correspondent from the courtroom.
Dorogov and Katelevsky were found guilty of extortion: according to information on the court’s website, the first was charged with parts 2 and 3 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code, and the second was charged with only part 3 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code. According to investigators, they asked traffic police inspector Pavel Gorokhov for more than a million rubles for refusing to publish materials “discrediting” the security officer.
The prosecution asked that Dorogov be sentenced to 12 years in a maximum security colony, and Katelevsky — 10 years in a maximum security colony . The journalists themselves believe that their criminal case is fabricated, and the persecution is related to their professional activities.
The Rosderzhava community investigates the abuses of officials and security forces, is registered as a media outlet, issues press cards to its correspondents, and also makes contracts with them official agreements.
Katelevsky and Dorogov have been in pretrial detention since June 2020. The case also involves a third defendant, Dmitry Filimonov. He testified against himself, Katelevsky and Dorogov and actively cooperated with the investigation; as a preventive measure, he was given a written undertaking not to leave. He was sentenced to seven years probation with a probationary period of four years.