Moscow’s Basmanny District Court on October 15 sentenced 39-year-old Vitaly Ainulin to three years in a general-regime penal colony on charges of financing extremist activity. He was taken into custody in the courtroom after the verdict was announced.
According to Mediazona, prosecutors alleged that between August 2021 and February 2022 Ainulin made seven transfers of 300 rubles each — 2,100 rubles in total — to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, or FBK.
Prosecutors had requested a four-year prison sentence.
Ainulin told the court that he had set up recurring donations in March 2021, before FBK was designated an extremist organization by Russian authorities. He said he did not sign up for a new donation plan after the organization was banned and that the payments continued to be deducted automatically. Ainulin said he had not noticed the transactions and canceled the subscription in February 2022.
That account represents Ainulin’s own position and was not accepted by the court as grounds for acquittal.
Ainulin was convicted under Part 1 of Article 282.3 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which covers financing extremist activity.