An elderly man from Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals, was fined half a million rubles (approximately US$5,600) for donating to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).

The Zheleznodorozhny District Court in Yekaterinburg has fined elderly man Andrey Kuzhelev half a million rubles (approximately US$5,600) in a case involving donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). This was reported by Mediazona.

The court also ordered the confiscation of the same amount he donated towards funding the FBK, as well as his iPhone, and ruled that his SIM card should be destroyed.

The prosecutor had asked for a fine equivalent to two years’ salary for Kuzhelev, which would amount to 12 million rubles. The defence requested a smaller fine—between 300,000 and 700,000 rubles.

The case concerning the financing of extremist activity (part 1, article 282.3 of the Russian Criminal Code) was submitted to the court at the end of June. According to investigators, the elderly man made 14 money transfers to the Anti-Corruption Foundation between 5 August 2021 and 19 February 2022. The total sum of the alleged transfers is around 13,000 rubles (about US$145).

As reported by SOTAvision, at one hearing Kuzhelev said he was living in Spain when he subscribed to make donations, and at that time he was unaware that the FBK had been declared an extremist organisation. He also insisted that he made the transfers to support the fight against corruption, not for any extremist activity.

Mediazona has published an investigation into cases against donors to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, detailing how police identify people who made donations, who is at risk, and what penalties they could face.