The Simonovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced 60-year-old Elena Perepelitsa, a member of Yabloko’s Moscow branch, to four years in prison, finding her guilty of financing an extremist organization. According to the case, in 2021 and 2022 she transferred 500 rubles to the Anti-Corruption Foundation seven times — 3,500 rubles in total.
Before the verdict was announced, Perepelitsa said that extremist views had never been close to her, that she had always worked for the good of her country and its citizens, and that she had also helped refugees from the “new Russian territories”. She said she did not remember making the payments and was sure she could not have knowingly transferred money for extremist activity.
According to her, she did not notice that instead of a one-time donation she had set up a monthly subscription. Perepelitsa also claimed that the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s information about the legality of donations had misled her.
Elena Perepelitsa is a psychologist and has been a member of Yabloko since 2017. According to the case, she worked in Moscow election commissions at various levels and ran for municipal deputy in the Maryina Roshcha district.
The prosecutor requested 4.5 years in prison for her. The defense insisted on her innocence and argued that direct intent to finance extremist activity was not confirmed by the case materials and was based on assumptions.
Attorney Olga Pelsh also said during closing arguments that Perepelitsa needed constant medication because of hypertension. According to her, the defendant is relied on by her mother, born in 1942, who has cancer, and whom she cared for. Perepelitsa was detained on July 2, and the next day the court sent her to a pretrial detention center.
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