Press Release, 22.07.2025

Photo: Konstantin Smirnov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On 23 July, the Sovietsky District Court of Ryazan will consider the investigator’s petition to extend the arrest for Konstantin Smirnov, Editor-in-Chief of the Internet media Vid Sboku (Side View) and deputy of the Dubrovichy Council from Yabloko. The journalist and politician has been in custody for six months in a criminal case of extortion. Konstantin Smirnov does not admit guilt.

Konstantin Smirnov has been kept in the Ryazan pretrial detention center since 31 January in a case of so-called “extortion” of money from the acting General Director of the Capital Repairs Fund Alexei Rogotovsky. The Internet media Vid Sboku criticised the work of the fund. After Smirnov’s arrest, the Audit Chamber of the Ryazan Region conducted an audit of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy Complex, as well as the housing and utilities sector of the region and the regional Capital Repairs Fund. Auditors revealed facts of illegal use of budget funds allocated from the regional budget in 2024. It should also be noted that Smirnov was deprived of his liberty during the liquidation of rural settlements with their deputies’ councils in the Ryazan region, against which he campaigned as a municipal deputy.

Smirnov’s defence repeatedly petitioned for the journalist to be placed under house arrest. Guarantees for their colleague and friend were signed by Yabloko leaders, deputies, journalists, professors, lawyers, business representatives and the public. At one of the court hearings, a resentative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the regional court, said that choosing another preventive measure for Konstantin Smirnov was “impossible”.

At the next court hearing, the defence will again insist on house arrest for Konstantin Smirnov.

The hearing will take place in the Sovietsky District Court of Ryazan (Moskovskoe Shosse 16, building 1) on July 23 at 15:30.