The case of marriage swindlers who attacked Izvestia journalists returned to the prosecutor's office

The case of marriage swindlers, who attacked the Izvestiya film crew, was returned to the prosecutor's office. The relevant information was published on the website of courts of general jurisdiction on November 24.

The defendants are charged with part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud on a large scale").

The source of "Izvestia" reported that the case was returned to the prosecutor's office due to violations in the drafting of the indictment, which prevents the final decision on the case.

According to the interlocutor, the interrogation of the victims should have taken place at the last session, but the session was delayed due to the fact that the main defendant Roman Pavlov overslept.

The film crew of Izvestia correspondent Natalia Grafchikova was attacked while shooting a story on marriage scammers on October 31. The journalists went to a supposedly closed dating club owned by Pavlov. The man jumped on Izvestia cameraman Oleg Klishin and used a chokehold against him. As a result, the cameraman was injured and the equipment was damaged.

On the same day a criminal case was opened under Part 3 Article 144 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Obstruction of the lawful professional activities of journalists"), and on November 1, Pavlov was placed under house arrest for one month with certain restrictions and prohibitions.

This is not the first attack on the Izvestiya correspondent's film crew. Thus, in January, it was reported that Grafchikova herself was attacked while preparing a special report on the Russian blogosphere. After the attack, Grafchikova was checked at a trauma center for multiple abrasions and contusions of the upper and lower extremities and head injuries.