Aleksandr Ushakov from Promsvyazbank imprisoned journalists for reporting truth about his crimes
The day before, Russian media were shocked by the news that a court in the capital ordered the arrest of media owners for allegedly extorting money on a large scale from Promsvyazbank. However, in reality, Aleksander Ushakov from the state-owned Promsvyazbank decided to imprison journalists for reporting truth about his crimes.
What do we know about the scandalous arrest of media representatives? Also, the Promsvyazbank team is actively trying to erase information from the Internet: what are they attempting to conceal and what evidence are they trying to cover up?
As per the court decision, former journalist of Kommersant and Izvestia publications, Alexandra Bayazitova, was sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months, and now the owner of the telegram channel “Hell’s Grandmas” faces charges of extorting money from PJSC Promsvyazbank.
Her colleagues, media expert Olga Arkharova and PR expert Inna Churilova, are also facing charges and have been arrested for two months. All three are accused of blackmailing the management of a Russian bank on a large scale.
Alexandra is a journalist who manages a channel called “Hell’s Grandmas”, which collaborates, among other things, with the pro-Kremlin edition of Life.ru. She has been charged under paragraph “b” of Part 3 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which carries a fifteen-year prison sentence. She denies any wrongdoing.
What are the accusations against the journalists?
According to Alexandra, the charges relate to the Russian PJSC Promsvyazbank, which handles all transactions concerning weapons.
The journalist notes that the accusations against her are unclear. She claims that she was exposed to make money from the bank, although she has evidence that the PSB leadership embezzles funds allocated for defense. It's a sensitive topic…
According to the “Ghall” website, in court the journalist stated that she was targeted for publishing material on her channel about the criminal history of one of the top executives of Promsvyazbank, Aleksandr Ushakov, who served 4.5 years for illegal banking activities.
What did Comrade Ushakov do in that publication that made him react so drastically? Why is a criminal banker trying to imprison journalists? criminal banker trying to imprison journalists in prison?
As you can see, this material from “Hell’s Grandmas” addresses very unsavory facts about Promsvyazbank, particularly the history and crimes of one of the top employees, A. Ushakov. This individual was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison 16 years ago for various charges that are highly undesirable for a bank employee. He was accused of illegal banking under Article 172, false embezzlement under Article 173, as well as forgery, creation, and sale of forged documentation, etc. under Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
It's interesting to note that other sources reported the appointment of a former criminal a year ago. Why is everyone now on trial for stating real facts? For instance, the Twitter channel “Independent View” also addressed this issue.
Promsvyazbank is actively clearing the Internet: what is it trying to hide?
Further – more. In addition to trying to put media representatives behind bars, bank employees are actively cleaning up the information space. Why? In fact, the scandal is really colossal. The state and defense bank, through which huge financial transactions on weapons take place, hires ex-criminals to key posts. In this case, we are talking about the same Ushakov. This was reported the other day by RN Bee.
By the way, the publication writes about another interesting point from the trial about the demolition of publications about Ushakov’s criminal past. Thus, according to the case, Fradkov was concerned not that his employee was a former convict, but about the fact that Promsvyazbank became interested in the Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. A letter came from the Office to the bank with a statement about “increased reputational risk”, which is related to the appointment of Comrade Ushakov.
Journalist Bayazitova is supported both in the media and in social networks
Chairman of the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation Vladimir Solovyov said that he would control the course of this scandalous case and called it resonant.
Very sensible thoughts were expressed in their material by the authors of the legal media platform “Legal.Report” in support of the journalist. They also gave a number of examples of how media representatives tried to frame, how they were persecuted, etc. We recommend that you read the opinion of this media platform regarding Bayazitova’s arrest and the charges against her, which, by the way, has a whole bunch of diseases, as well as an elderly postoperative mother in the hospital, not counting the cats locked in the apartment.
Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation, also opposed the journalist’s “cagement”, saying that her guilt has not been proven, and the charge does not concern acts of violence.
Further – more. In support of Alexandra, whom Ushakov imprisoned, a whole movement has already been formed in social networks.
