The lawyer did not rule out commutation of the sentence to blogger Lercek because of her pregnancy

The pregnancy of blogger Valeria Chekalina (Lercek) can help her avoid a real term and is likely to be the basis for a commutation of the sentence imposed by the court. Lawyer Andrey Knyazev informed Izvestia about this on November 24.

"Women may be granted a delay in serving their sentence until the child reaches the age of 14. And usually, if a woman survives this period without violations, then she does not go to prison. Therefore, the more underage children there are, the better," he explained.

The human rights defender noted that women who depend on young children are rarely sentenced to real imprisonment — this mostly happens when it comes to serious violent crimes, assaults or murders.

Discussing the possible measure of restraint, Knyazev suggested that Lercek's pregnancy could be the basis for a ban on certain actions.

Earlier that day, Chekalina confirmed information about her pregnancy. She arrived at the hearing on the withdrawal of more than 250 million rubles from the Russian Federation accompanied by the father of her unborn child, 37-year-old Argentine choreographer Luis Squicciarini. In addition, the blogger is raising three children with ex-husband Artem Chekalin.

At the same time, it was reported that the Gagarin District Court of Moscow began a hearing on the criminal case of bloggers Lerchek and her ex-husband Artem Chekalin, accused of illegally withdrawing over 250 million rubles from Russia.

The criminal case against Chekalina and her ex-husband Artyom was opened in October last year. They, along with an accomplice, were suspected of illegally withdrawing over 250 million rubles from Russia to Dubai using forged documents (art. 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.