The court arrested journalist Bayazitova, who wrote about Promsvyazbank’s involvement in the theft from government orders

On August 10, the Kuzminsky District Court of Moscow sent Alexandra Bayazitova, a journalist and author of the telegram channel “Hell Grandmothers,” to a pre-trial detention center for two months - she is suspected of extortion (clause “b” of Part 3 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code), TASS.

writes The investigation believes that the journalist, along with other defendants in the case - businesswoman Olga Arkharova and PR manager Inna Churilova - extorted money from Promsvyazbank.

According to Bayazitova’s lawyers, the investigation was only able to establish that the journalist administered a certain telegram channel. “However, the investigation did not establish what exactly the extortion was,” TASS noted, citing the defense.

The journalist herself believes that the criminal prosecution is related to her information about Promsvyazbank. The text talked about the theft of money allocated for state defense orders and how this affected the course of the war in Ukraine.

Baza note Bayazitova’s comment from the court:

published

I am now being tried for writing a note about Promsvyazbank. I wrote an article that we have a bad situation in Ukraine due to the fact that defense orders are being stolen in the state, in defense, and in Promsvyazbank.

I had proof. And the father of the chairman of the board of Promsvyazbank, if you remember, he was the director, in fact, he destroyed the entire SVR, otherwise the operation would have taken place, as Vladimir Vladimirovich planned, in literally two weeks. In fact, because I wrote the truth, I think it was because of this that I was imprisoned

SVR Bayazitova asked the court to take into account that she is dependent on her elderly mother, in addition, she has diabetes, and she is not going to hide. However, the court still agreed with the investigation's request.

The other defendants in the case, Arkharov and Churilov, were also sent into custody. During the selection of a preventive measure, Bayazitova did not admit guilt, Arkharova admitted partially, and Churilova fully admitted her guilt and repented of her crime.

• Before her arrest, Bayazitova wrote on financial and economic topics, worked for Kommersant and Izvestia, RTVI. Recently, she switched to freelancing and sometimes published on the website of the tabloid Life. Since 2017, the journalist has been running the “Hell Grandmas” telegram channel. clarifies - Promsvyazbank is fully owned by the state, and since 2019 it has been the main bank of the Russian military-industrial complex.