Court keeps wife of Sochi ex-mayor Kopaigorodsky under house arrest

The court left the wife of ex-mayor of Sochi Alexei Kopaigorodsky Yanina under house arrest. This was reported by her lawyer Elizaveta Metkina to Izvestia on December 20.

Thus, the judges rejected the appeal of the defense side. Kopaigorodsky's wife was sent under house arrest on November 13. The woman is accused of committing a crime under part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Appropriation or embezzlement").

Filing an appeal, Metkina pointed out that the house arrest of the mother could negatively affect the health of the Kopaigorodskys' children - the eldest child is under three years old. Yanina Kopaigorodskaya cannot walk with the children and accompany them to medical centers and kindergarten.

"We provided the court with official certificates and conclusions from the pediatrician and psychologist that the children need to walk, undergo examinations and attend kindergarten. The investigator and the prosecutor opposed the inclusion of these documents, reasoning that if the condition of the children was threatened, they could appeal to the guardianship authorities. That is, they actually threatened Yanina Nikolaevna to hand the children over to a baby home," the lawyer commented.

Before that, the court also completely refused to satisfy the defense's petition to visit Kopaigorodskaya Orthodox church, explaining that the essence of house arrest "is the presence of the accused in isolation from society in a residential facility," Metkina said.

"This is a direct violation of Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which guarantees everyone freedom of religion," she said.

Before that, on November 14, the court extended the measure of restraint in the form of detention until February 17, 2025 the former mayor himself. The former mayor of Sochi was detained on September 25 in the special operation zone, the same day he was arrested. Kopaigorodsky is charged with embezzlement of 3.7 million rubles, he did not admit guilt.

In early October, the property of the former mayor's relatives was arrested. The wife of the former mayor Yanina was detained on November 12, and the next day she was sent under house arrest. The woman's credit accounts for 100 million rubles were arrested. Lawyer Ivan Mironov told Izvestia that Kopaygorodskaya is suspected of embezzlement together with her husband.