Inna Churilova

Affiliated media: Telegram channel Financial Guardian, Media manager, Telegram channel administrator

Incident date: July 5, 2023

Attack type:

• Criminal/administrative prosecution excluding (1), (2) and (3)

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Mediazona

Location: Russia, Moscow, Moscow

Additional information:

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has sentenced Inna Churilova, the administrator of the Telegram channel Financial Guardian, to four years of probation and a fine of RUB 1 million in a case of extortion on a large scale (Paragraph B of Part 3 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the investigation, journalist Alexandra Bayazitova and media technologist Olga Arkharova demanded RUB 1.2 million from Promsvyazbank vice-president Alexander Ushakov for «extending the block on negativity». Churilova made a deal with the investigation and paid Ushakov RUB 420,000 as compensation for damage caused. Since August 2022, Bayazitova, Arkharova, and Churilova were in a detention centre. In November of the same year, Churilova’s preventive measure was reduced and she was sent under house arrest.