Search
The Petrograd District Court in St Petersburg has fined entrepreneur Grigory Kunis 350,000 roubles (US$3,800) in a case concerning the financing of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (under Article 282.3, Section 1 of the Criminal Code), reports SOTAvision.
Kunis was released from custody in the courtroom. The prosecutor had requested a six-year prison term. The court took into account the time the entrepreneur had spent in pre-trial detention and reduced the fine from 500,000 to 350,000 roubles (US$5,400 to US$3,800).
According to investigators, between 2021 and 2022, Kunis made seven transfers of 500 roubles (US$5.40) each to the Anti-Corruption Foundation. He admitted making the transfers and stated that he regarded the foundation’s investigations as “good journalism without a political slant.” In court, he asked for the “right to make a mistake” to be applied in his case.
Kunis was placed in custody on 25 July. In his final statement, he said that while in pre-trial detention he had repaired books in the library and analysed the penal system. He also noted that the hardest punishment was being separated from his children and being unable to be useful.
Kunis is the former publisher of the newspaper “Moi Rayon” (now the MR7 portal), co-founder of the iGooods delivery service, and one of the organisers of the first “Immortal Regiment” march in St Petersburg. In 2006, he was awarded the “Media Manager of Russia” prize.