A Russian media supervisor who used to go the media group of Late SΓΆldner Yevgeny Prigozhin, together with the infamous “Trollfabrik”, was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in jail for blackmail and drug accusations.
Ilya Gorbunov, who supervised the Patriot Media Group from 2019 to mid -2023, was arrested In June in June for suspicion of demanding cash from a former colleague.
Patriot Media Group was closed After Prigozhin’s failed mutiny in opposition to the navy management of Russia in June 2023, Prigozhin and several other high helpers had been killed in a airplane crash in August this 12 months, whereas Gorbunov briefly disappeared from the general public.
Prigozhin’s “Troll Manufacturing unit”, formally referred to as Web Analysis Company (IRA), gained worldwide fame after being accused by the US secret service companies within the 2016 presidential election.
The IRA is claimed to have orchestrated an enormous on-line marketing campaign to sow voters by means of pretend accounts and disinformation on essential social media platforms and to affect the voters. Prigozhin, as soon as known as “Putin’s boss”, later admitted to finance the operation after years of rejections.
The investigators of St. Petersburg mentioned that Gorbunov had referred to as for between 10 and 20 million rubles (127,000 to 254,000 US {dollars}) from one other media supervisor who was linked to Prigozhin in reference to favorable reporting throughout an election marketing campaign for the native workplace.
Gorbunov denied misconduct and claimed that he was framed by the regulation enforcement authorities after he had provided to help the ex-Colleague Alexander Malkevich together with his election marketing campaign.
The Petrogradsky District Courtroom of St. Petersburg discovered Gorbunov responsible of blackmail and drug trafficking on Friday. The drug accusations come from hashish shelters that the police discovered whereas looking for his residence.
Gorbunov was convicted of 10 years in a jail with most safety and punished with a wonderful of 500,000 rubles ($ 6,300).
“Watch out, colleagues, that may occur to everybody,” he mentioned reporters on the listening to.
Gorbunov beforehand mentioned that the jail authorities had blocked his makes an attempt to work into the Russian navy and to combat in Ukraine as a substitute of combating in Ukraine.
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