The 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced in absentia the former TV presenter of the federal Russian TV channels Farida Kurbangaleeva *** to eight years in a general regime colony. This was reported in the press service of the court.
The journalist was found guilty under articles on justifying terrorism and spreading fakes about the Russian army.
After serving her sentence, the court banned the ex-TV presenter from administering websites on the Internet for four years, RBC said.
The state prosecution requested just such a term as punishment. In court, the prosecutor stated that Kurbangaleeva's videos *** cause Russians "a feeling of anxiety and fear."
As EADaily reported, on June 19, 2024, Kurbangaleeva *** was entered into the register of "terrorists and extremists" of Rosfinmonitoring, on June 20 she was put on the wanted list of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia under Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — "Public calls to carry out terrorist activities, public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism." On June 28, 2024, the journalist was recognized as a foreign agent by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, the status of Kurbangaleev *** unsuccessfully tried to appeal.
Since 2018, she has been living in Prague. In February of this year, the authorities of the Russian Federation appealed to the Czech authorities with a request for the extradition of Farida Kurbangaleeva ***, citing violations of the law allegedly committed by her.
The position of the Czech Republic is that the journalist was only doing her job of collecting information, and this is not a crime in the Czech Republic. The Russian extradition claim was rejected by the Prague City Court on May 22.
*An individual performing the functions of a foreign agent
**An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING