The Proletrasky District Court of Rostov-on-Don changed the measure of restraint to imprisonment for Sergei Rulev, an informer and prosecution witness in the case of Anastasia Shevchenko, coordinator of Open Russia. Lawyer Sergei Badamshin announced the arrest.
Rulev is accused of extortion, insulting a government official and contempt of court.
According to investigators, Rulev blackmailed Tatyana Krashennikova, an assistant to a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and demanded 100,000 rubles for removing videos about her.
Rulev came to Russia from Ukraine in 2014 as a foreign correspondent for the Slavyanskiye Novosti newspaper. It was on his denunciation that the criminal prosecution of Anastasia Shevchenko began. Rulev also wrote denunciations against her daughter, who wrote about her mother on social networks.
In February 2021, a court sentenced Open Russia activist Anastasia Shevchenko to four years of probation with a four-year probation for participating in the activities of an “undesirable” organization. The criminal case was opened in 2019, this is the first case of criminal prosecution under this article in the Russian Federation. Shevchenko is accused of coordinating the movement's debates in Taganrog and organizing a "gathering-lecture" before the elections to the Rostov Legislative Assembly. Since January 23, 2019, Shevchenko has been under house arrest, during which time her daughter died. The Human Rights Center "Memorial" recognized the activist as a political prisoner. The sentence was first reduced to three years probation, after Shevchenko left Russia in 2022, the probation was replaced with a real one.