Sofya Rosenfeld sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in the case over donations to FBK

Judge Kurbanov found Rosenfeld guilty in the case of financing an “extremist” organization, reports Mediazona from the courtroom of the Gagarin District Court of Moscow. She was taken into custody in the courtroom, and the prosecution had requested 5 years in prison for her.

According to the prosecution, the case concerned two transfers of 1,000 rubles each, made in August and September 2021. The scientist herself said that at the time she was on a long scientific expedition without communication and canceled the subscription immediately after learning about FBK’s “extremist” status.

The lawyers added to the case file her letter to the fund requesting that the monthly payments be canceled. Rosenfeld admitted guilt in part: she did not deny that she had subscribed to donations, but insisted that she did not intend to support extremism.

In court she explained that she began helping FBK out of anti-corruption motives. In response to the judge’s question, she said that any public support in this case, in her view, was necessary.

Rosenfeld is one of the leading specialists on Arctic waterfowl, and she also spoke out against a bill that would weaken the ban on killing animals listed in the Red Book. This is the third known case in which a woman received a real prison sentence for donations to FBK: in July last year, the Timiryazevsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Ukrainian woman Lyudmila Gonchar to 3 years in prison, and in September the Golovinsky District Court of Moscow handed down the same sentence to Pyaterochka employee Elena Albegova.