The court extended the house arrest of bloggers Chekalins

Troitsky Court of Moscow has extended house arrest of bloggers Valeria and Artem Chekalin in the case of withdrawal of more than 250 million rubles from Russia. This became known from the court filing.

"The petition to extend the term of house arrest Chekalina V. V. satisfied," - noted in the documents.

Troitsky district court extended the house arrest of bloggers until January 25.

Earlier, on November 7, the court of appeal decided to leave the blogger Valeria Chekalina under house arrest in the case of illegal withdrawal of funds abroad. The defense requested for Chekalina to sign a non-departure. According to the lawyers, the girl will not be able to leave the Russian Federation, as her Russian passport has been confiscated.

Before that, on October 4, the court sent Chekalina, her ex-husband Artem and their business partner Roman Vishnyak under house arrest until November 26 in the case of illegal withdrawal of funds abroad. The defendants later appealed the decision. In the same month, Telegram channels reported about Chekaliny's violations of the terms of the preventive measure, but the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia denied the information. On October 31, the Chekalins filed three complaints against house arrest.

On October 3, the Russian Interior Ministry reported that the Chekalins and their accomplice are suspected of illegally transferring more than 250 million rubles from Russia to Dubai using forged documents. Izvestiya source said that the damage from the bloggers' activities may exceed 500 million rubles. A new criminal case has been opened against them.

In March 2023, a case was opened against Valeria and her husband for non-payment of taxes in the amount of about 300 million rubles and legalization of more than 130 million rubles obtained by criminal means. At the end of December 2023, the Investigative Committee of Russia closed the case of non-payment of taxes, but refused to stop the proceedings on money laundering. On January 15, it became known that Valeria and Artem Chekaliny pleaded guilty and fully paid the tax arrears, penalties and a fine of 504 million rubles.