The former head of the Altai region was accused of financing the religious group “Alla-Ayat”

The Shebalinsky District Court of Altai is considering a criminal case of extremism against 77-year-old honorary citizen of the republic and former head of the region Anatoly Sokolov, Mediazona noted.

He is accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and financing extremism (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code).

His case first came to court at the end of June 2025. In August, according to the case file, the judge was disqualified because “he is personally, directly or indirectly interested in the outcome” of the case. In December, the proceedings were suspended with the wording: “the accused is seriously ill.” In February, the case was returned to the prosecutor's office due to errors in the indictment.

The prosecutor appealed this decision to the Altai Supreme Court. This resolution mentions that in the Sokolov case we are talking about the religious group “Allya-Ayat”, banned in 2019.

Adherents of this teaching, as the SOVA research center wrote , “preach a cure for all diseases by applying the Selenium Star magazine to the body, pronouncing a certain “formula of life,” consuming special tea and prolonged contemplation of the sun.”

The Supreme Court decided to send Sokolov's case for a new trial. A new trial in the Shebalinsky court began at the end of March 2026, the verdict has not yet been rendered.

According to Sokolov’s biography, published on the website “shebalino-altai.rf”, he was the elected head of the Shebalino district in 2000-2011. It is noted that he has many awards, including from the president. He was included in the encyclopedia “The Best People of Russia”, in 2010 he was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Altai Republic”.

In 2011, he was sentenced to a fine of 100 thousand rubles in the case of interference in elections using his official position (Part 3 of Article 141 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, he repeatedly interfered with the work of the district election commission, promoted his candidate and threatened his subordinates with dismissal for disobedience. As local media reported, Sokolov resigned shortly after the criminal case was initiated.

In August 2019, under Sokolov’s name, a column was published in support of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the upcoming elections; he also criticized United Russia.