The court did not rule on Lercek's house arrest

The Gagarin Court of Moscow on Thursday, July 30, did not rule on the prosecutor's office's request to tighten the preventive measure for blogger Lerchek (Valery Chekalin) with a ban on certain actions for house arrest. A source told Izvestia about this on July 30.

"The measure of restraint was not touched," the source said.

He did not specify whether the court intended to consider the petition, or whether the measure of restraint would remain unchanged. In addition, the source said that on Friday, July 31, the court plans to hold a debate on the Lercek case.

"The stage of presenting evidence by the defense has arrived and the parties are scheduled to debate," the source said.

Chekalina is being held by the accused in the case of the withdrawal of more than 250 million rubles in the UAE under forged documents. Her case is being considered behind closed doors. Artyom Chekalin, the blogger's ex-husband, was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined more than 194 million rubles and taken into custody in the courtroom.

The criminal case against Lercek, accused of illegal currency transactions, was resumed on July 24. The first hearing by the decision of the Gagarin Court of Moscow was scheduled for July 30 at 16:00 Moscow time. Lercek came to it with her beloved dancer Luis Squicciarini.

Yevgeny Cheremushkin, Candidate of Medical Sciences and oncologist, said on July 10 that Chekalin, who was diagnosed with grade IV stomach cancer, could potentially be summoned to court. Then he drew attention to the fact that the appropriate step is taken under the condition of the patient's activity and capacity. Three days later, the blogger actually came to court on the issue of resuming the process, but then the authorized persons did not begin consideration.

Some time later, on July 16, the defendant in the criminal case on the withdrawal of more than 250 million rubles to the UAE under forged documents underwent the last course of chemotherapy, and the next day she appeared without a wig. At that time, the blogger and her children were preparing to watch the semifinal match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.