The Golovinsky District Court of Moscow on [date] sentenced Yelena Albegova, a 46-year-old employee of the Pyaterochka grocery chain, to three years in a penal colony on charges of financing extremist activity (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Russian Criminal Code), a Mediazona correspondent reported from the courtroom. Prosecutor Alayeva had requested the same sentence.
Albegova was detained in late June and sent to a pre-trial detention center on July 4. The criminal case was opened over a 1,000-ruble donation she transferred to FBK in August 2021, after the organization had already been designated as extremist.
In court, Albegova pleaded guilty and expressed remorse. She said she first learned about Alexei Navalny in 2015 during regional elections and became interested in FBK's investigations in 2018. "I haven't followed their activities for a long time, to be honest. I think they're not even in Russia anymore," she said. Albegova was born in North Ossetia and moved to Moscow in 2015 to help her younger sister raise a child.
This is the second known case of a woman receiving a real prison sentence for donating to FBK. In July last year, the Timiryazevsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Ukrainian citizen Lyudmila Gonchar to three years in a penal colony for transferring 1,000 rubles to the foundation. In May, the Zyuzinsky District Court sent Andrei Dymov, an associate professor at the HSE Faculty of Mathematics, to a colony for 3.5 years for a 3,500-ruble donation.
In 2025, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia's prosecution of FBK was unlawful and politically motivated. According to Mediazona's calculations, by April 2026, at least 225 criminal cases had been opened across the country for donations to the foundation. Security forces intensified prosecution for FBK transfers in 2025: every third case involving financing of an "extremist" organization was linked to donations to the foundation, the outlet noted.