Nizhny Novgorod businessman Mikhail Iosilevich was sentenced to a real term in the case of cooperation with Open Russia

Nizhny Novgorod businessman and Pastafarian Mikhail Iosilevich was sentenced to one year and eight months in a penal colony for collaborating with an “undesirable” organization, as well as for threatening to kill a witness.

Taking into account the time Iosilevich spent in pretrial detention, the actual sentence will be about three months, Sota reports. He was under arrest for six months, then released on bail, and was arrested again in mid-May after being removed from a flight to Israel at Domodedovo Airport.

Iosilevich was accused of collaborating with Open Russia, allegedly providing the organization with premises. Iosilevich himself says that he provided premises to the Golos movement.

On October 1, 2020, several searches were conducted in Nizhny Novgorod in connection with the case of the activities of an "undesirable" organization. In addition to Iosilevich, security forces came to the editor-in-chief of the KozaPress publication Irina Slavina. The next day, she committed an act of self-immolation near the Ministry of Internal Affairs building.

The case of the death threat against the witness, as Mediazona wrote , was based on a mistake, since, apparently, it was not Iosilevich who called the witness, but pranksters.