The prosecutor’s office wants to change the sentence for the “esoteric investigator” from Yekaterinburg, a large city in the Urals.

The prosecutor’s office has lodged an appeal against the sentence handed down to blogger and writer Valentina Kogut from Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals. “Vechernee Vedomosti” drew attention to the relevant court card on the website of the Ordzhonikidze District Court.

On 23 May, Kogut was given a two-year suspended sentence under the article on repeated “discrediting” of the army (Part 1, Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). She was also banned from running any internet pages for two years.

The grounds for the criminal prosecution were four videos on her YouTube channel: '“Wolves at the Exam.” The Future of Russia', 'Russian Media. The Drunk Bees', 'Russians Will Change the World. The Failure of the Jews', and 'Taxes and the Digital Rouble'. According to investigators, these videos contained information “aimed at discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.”

The blogger did not plead guilty, “not because she wants to avoid responsibility,” but because “as a qualified linguist she saw falsification and distortion” in the expert analysis conducted for the investigation.

In October 2022, Kogut was fined twice under the article on “discrediting” the army (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) after she spoke out against the war with Ukraine. On 15 May last year, her home was searched. The woman reported that during the investigative actions, law enforcement officers “slammed” her face into the wall.

Kogut was born in Zhytomyr. She calls herself an “esoteric investigator” and claims to communicate with angels.

4 September The prosecutor’s office has withdrawn the submission demanding a change to blogger Valentina Kogut’s sentence, reports “Vechernee Vedomosti.”

On the case card on the trial court website, it states that the prosecutor’s complaint was withdrawn. Most likely because of this, in July the appeal proceedings on the case were discontinued.

Kogut’s lawyer, Aleksei Bushmakov, told “Vechernee Vedomosti” that he does not know the reason for the prosecutor’s decision. He noted that this is extremely rare.