Journalist Shmonin is released under house arrest. Is it a provocation
Today it became known that the scandalous editor-in-chief of the TV company "Public television of Ugra" from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Eduard Shmonin released under house arrest. This decision was made by one of the courts in Ugra on the appeal of the journalist's lawyers.
Eduard Shmonin himself has been held in jail in custody since the beginning of April 2017 on charges and suspicions of distributing pornography, as well as extorting money from government officials and law enforcement agencies.
The first accusation against Shmonin was, allegedly, the dissemination through the website Chinovnik.com, possibly controlled by him, of a pornographic video in which a person resembling a former deputy of the Duma of Nizhnevartovsk Vadima Nikandrova in 2012 enters into a sexual oral relationship with another unidentified man.
Because of this, in February and March 2017, searches took place in the editorial office of OTV Yugra and the apartments of the TV company's journalists, during which the investigation seized computers, filming equipment, telephones and other materials.
After that, the investigators opened several more criminal cases against Eduard Shmonin, including those related to the possible extortion of money by the journalist from the former prosecutor of Surgut Alexander Ponomarev, as well as state enterprises of Ugra. The accusation based the statements of the heads of these state-owned companies that, allegedly, under the guise of performing advertising work, Eduard Shmonin's television company received money from these enterprises, under the guise of advertising contracts.
The incident is that the former prosecutor of Surgut Alexander Ponomarev wrote a statement about the possible extortion of money from him only 2 years after the release of a series of scandalous TV programs in which Eduard Shmonin talked about possible corruption in the Surgut prosecutor's office. Ponomarev, retired and living in Yekaterinburg, wrote a statement only when a number of criminal cases had already been opened against Eduard Shmonin. At the time of the release of these programs, Alexander Ponomarev was still the acting prosecutor of Surgut. However, the city prosecutor's office did not initiate any statements, investigations related to the information released in these programs. No possible extortion was reported either.
The defense of Edurd Shmonin, like the journalist himself, considers all the charges brought against and the suspicions of the investigation to be far-fetched. And the fact that Shmonin was “locked up” in a pre-trial detention center is an attempt to put pressure on freedom of speech. According to the defenders, it all started with the publication by OTV Yugra of the criminal oil investigation program, which said that underground oil refineries “samovars” were operating in Yugra, producing gasoline from stolen oil from oil companies.
Yugra, April 6 - AiF-Yugra.The editor-in-chief of the OTV-Ugra channel and the creator of the Chinovnik.ru portal, Eduard Shmonin, has been arrested.
According to the decision of the Khanty-Mansiysk District Court, he was sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months, - the portal ugra-news.ru reported on April 5. Otherwise, according to the department, Shmonin will be able to somehow influence the conduct of his criminal case.
The man is accused at once under two articles of the criminal code - "Distribution of pornography" and "Libel". In addition, some Ugra media outlets claim that in the near future Shmonin is going to be charged with extortion and coercion into a deal.
In publications on Chinovnik.ru, the situation is called pressure from the Ugra government and revenge for a series of materials about Governor Natalya Komarova.
According to Shmonin himself, he has long had nothing to do with this portal.
Opinions:
Andrey Ryabov, ONF expert, member of the Union of Journalists:
“In this case, our legislators have finally found the strength, time and desire to remove garbage. This is informational rubbish left in the district since the 90s. Thank God, at last there were people who did the necessary work. I hope it will end in success, and the court will measure out to Mr. Shmonin the measure he deserves. I don’t consider him a journalist, he is an information racketeer ”.Veronika Chubenko, editor-in-chief of SurgutInformTV:
“The case of Eduard Shmonin and Chinovnik.ru has never smelled of freedom of speech. Everyone who came across this resource knows that it was impossible to present any criticism or your own, excellent, point of view there. The resource has never complied with the legislation. It was just a cesspool with which the scores were settled: with those who did not want to pay, those who were ordered by opponents, or those from whom the website creators simply extorted money. Our law is arranged in such a way that, of course, it is possible to prosecute for such a practice, but it is difficult in view of the fact that the site itself is registered on the ..com domain, and the founders live somewhere abroad. And for a long time all these people remained unpunished. This is not good because it provokes general irresponsibility. A bad example is contagious. I do not know how this story will end, it is not easy to investigate, the authors of the materials are hidden by pseudonyms - in general, the prospects are vague. But I consider the very fact of Mr. Shmonin's arrest positive and very gratifying in itself. "Anton Stepygin, correspondent of RIA "URA.Ru":
“There is no last stronghold of freedom of speech in the resources affiliated with Shmonin. This was also shown by the conflict of this man with other journalists. The scheme is the same - to dump a bucket of nonsense and dirt on people, only here he did not extort money, but simply took revenge. In the media crowd of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, everyone perfectly understands what Shmonin is. What are his prices, how does he make money. The question was only in the patrons, but the man, apparently, played too much. And it is right. His example is science to others. Other similar resources will think well next time before embarking on the path of information blackmail. "Investigators introduce new heroes into the criminal case against Shmonin. They are in Ugra and at large
The Ugra police officially confirmed the initiation of a new criminal case, which will become the main weapon of the investigation in the trial over the creator of the Chinovnik.ru portal Eduard Shmonin. According to the security officials, a criminal group organized by a businessman could extort a large sum from a businessman from Nefteyugansk, promising in return not to publish offensive information about him. As part of the community, in addition to the authors of the publications, there were several other people occupying significant posts. Some of them may also soon find themselves in the dock.
The fact of the initiation of a criminal case on the grounds of extortion committed by an organized group in order to obtain property on an especially large scale was officially confirmed to the agency by the police. “On May 3, a criminal case was initiated against Eduard Shmonin and persons unidentified to date, under paragraphs“ a ”and“ b ”, part 3 of article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation“ Extortion ”. The sanction of this article provides for a punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 7 to 15 years. The case has been sent for approval to the prosecutor's office, ”said Olga Abmaikina, head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra.
Standing on a par with journalists, Shmonin raised his status
Photo: Alexander Mamaev © URA.RU
URA.RU knows the names of all the persons involved in the case, but the agency deliberately does not disclose them, since the publication of this information may affect the course of the investigation.
According to insiders in the law enforcement agencies of Ugra, the main victim was in the past a deputy of the Nefteyugansk City Duma and was conducting a divorce proceedings with his wife. Representatives of the Chinovnik.ru website came to his meeting and presented allegedly reliable information about the entrepreneur's personal life, which could have dealt a blow to his reputation. It was proposed to solve the problem in exchange for an amount of 3 million rubles. The victim refused.
“They came and said: you were“ ordered ”. Here's the stuff. We may not print, but the money will have to be returned.
After the refusal, according to the investigation, an article was published on the Chinovnik.ru website in which the victim was insulted and accused of moral deformity. Anonymous authors referred to the allegedly available facts about the entrepreneur's difficult childhood, domestic violence and acts of incest. They have already demanded 5 million rubles for removing the publication from the deputy.
The role of the prosecutor's office in the Shmonin case is very peculiar
Photo: Igor Merkulov © URA.RU
Insiders assure that, in addition to the suspect Eduard Shmonin, well-known businessmen in Ugra, representatives of traditional Russian criminals, professional lawyers could also have been involved in extortion. It is they who may be the very "unidentified persons" who appear in the case. A number of portal authors are also planned to be prosecuted as accomplices.
Representatives of Eduard Shmonin in a conversation with the agency said that for the first time they hear about the initiation of a new criminal case under a particularly grave article. “We will learn about this from the pages of“ URA.RU ”. You have more information than we do. This is a compliment for you, ”says the businessman’s lawyer Amil Abbasov.
The investigation is being monitored by the regional prosecutor's office. The key word in the Chinovnik.ru case still belongs to this structure, whose leadership through intermediaries has connections with Shmonin. Sources of "URA.RU" within the supervisory department claim that questions regularly arise about the work of the police. Investigators are asked to interview more witnesses, to clarify additional details on a particular episode. It was not possible to contact the official representative of the Ugra prosecutor's office Inga Snatkina at the time of preparation of the material. An information request has been sent to the department.
Earlier, Eduard Shmonin was charged under Articles 242 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (distribution of pornography) and 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (libel). The businessman is now in custody in the Tyumen SIZO. At the end of April, "Chinovnik.ru", as well as another Internet resource "OTV-Yugra" controlled by Shmonin, stopped working. The main version says that the owners of the portals ran out of money to pay for the services of administrators.
According to law enforcement officials, after the arrest of Eduard Shmonin, the number of people claiming to be victims of the businessman's actions has increased dramatically.
All facts of appeals are checked. Persons from different regions of the country took part in the activities of the sites at different times. Operative police groups are working in this direction in Yekaterinburg, Tula and on the Crimean peninsula, where Chinovnik.ru was hosting.
Today it became known that the controversial editor-in-chief of the Ugra Public Television Company from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Eduard Shmonin is being released under house arrest. This decision was made by one of the courts in Ugra on the appeal of the journalist's lawyers.
Eduard Shmonin himself has been held in jail in custody since the beginning of April 2017 on charges and suspicions of distributing pornography, as well as extorting money from government officials and law enforcement agencies.
Shmonin's first accusation was the alleged distribution through the website Chinovnik.com, which he controls, of a pornographic video in which a person resembling the former deputy of the Nizhnevartovsk Duma Vadim Nikandrov in 2012 engages in oral sex with another unidentified man.
Because of this, in February and March 2017, searches took place in the editorial office of OTV Yugra and the apartments of the TV company's journalists, during which the investigation seized computers, filming equipment, telephones and other materials.
The incident is that the former prosecutor of Surgut, Alexander Ponomarev, wrote a statement about the possible extortion of money from him only 2 years after the release of a series of scandalous TV programs in which Eduard Shmonin talked about possible corruption in the Surgut prosecutor's office. Ponomarev, retired and living in Yekaterinburg, wrote a statement only when a number of criminal cases had already been opened against Eduard Shmonin. At the time of the release of these programs, Alexander Ponomarev was still the acting prosecutor of Surgut. However, the city prosecutor's office did not initiate any statements, investigations related to the information released in these programs. No possible extortion was reported either.
The defense of Edurd Shmonin, like the journalist himself, considers all the charges brought against and the suspicions of the investigation to be far-fetched. And the fact that Shmonin was “locked up” in a pre-trial detention center is an attempt to put pressure on freedom of speech. According to the defenders, it all started with the publication by OTV Yugra of the criminal oil investigation program, which said that underground oil refineries “samovars” were operating in Yugra, producing gasoline from stolen oil from oil companies.
The information agency "Ural Meridian" told about the fact that oil in Ugra is being stolen by criminal communities under the cover of police officers in its publications. This means that what Edurad Shmonin said may also take place. However, instead of checks, Shmonin received an accusation from the investigation that he accuses oil company employees of financing terrorists, i.e. in a felony.
From April 2017 to the present time, Eduard Shmonin has been in jail. The investigation changed its composition several times. The last time the investigation was transferred to the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra. Then it was noted that, possibly, the investigators will start the investigation again, because of the mistakes made by the previous investigative teams.
All this time, the investigators petitioned the courts considering the detention of Eduard Shmonin that he is dangerous to society and will continue to engage in illegal activities at large. That the presence of Eduard Shmonin in the pre-trial detention center is necessary in order to complete the investigative actions, which Eduard Shmonin can influence, being at large, in the form of pressure on witnesses.
As an example, they cited an unidentified SMS and a message from Viber in the form of threats sent by an unknown person, to one of the witnesses - the former deputy of Eduard Shmonin Vyacheslav Galkin, who in his testimony said that it was he who, at Shmonin's request, posted pornographic material on the Internet with deputy Vadim Nikandrov.
The investigators did not provide evidence that the threat was personally sent by Eduard Shmonin, but simply stated that Galkin received such a message and assumed that it was Shmonin himself, or someone at his request. The courts accepted this assumption as one of the possible evidence that a journalist could put pressure on witnesses while at large.
At the moment, Eduard Shmonin has been in jail for over 10 months. According to the Criminal Procedure Code, under the weight of the charges against him, Shmonin can be detained for no more than 12 months, plus another 6 months in special cases. If we take into account those 12 months, then the maximum period (excluding the "special case") in custody ends in mid-March 2018.
Could the decision to release Shmonin under house arrest be a provocation aimed at a longer detention of a journalist for another 12 months? Quite possible.
Taking into account the presence of some fake threat in the form of SMS and messages in Viber to witness Vyacheslav Galkin, during the house arrest the investigation will suddenly establish that, possibly and even presumably, someone else will receive a threat from Shmonin. Or, as dishonest investigators sometimes do (the documents are at the disposal of the editorial office), someone via the Internet will buy plane, train, bus tickets in the name of the prisoner, and then they will present it in court as evidence. And the person will be closed again.
You never know what other provocations can be carried out during house arrest. The "house arrest" regime itself consists in restricting the arrested person in movement, banning communication, including through the telephone and the Internet. Walk once a day with an electronic leg bracelet around the house, without even visiting a store. Meeting with lawyers only after the seizure of the last means of communication.
Any violation that can be recorded and proven is interpreted as a violation of the "house arrest" regime. In this case, the arrested person is again placed in a pre-trial detention center for a period of up to 12 months (in special cases, with an extension of up to 6 months, as indicated earlier), and the previous period of detention is deleted from the set-off. That is, all the terms under the Criminal Procedure Code begin to be reckoned from the beginning.
It is quite possible that this vacation under “house arrest” for an unwanted journalist may turn out to be only a visible part of the weakening of Shmonin's detention regime. In fact, it can be a new round to "hiding" a person again for a whole year and already without real prospects of release until the end of the term under the Criminal Procedure Code or until a court decision.
IA "Ural Meridian" monitors the course of events.
A new criminal case has been opened against the creator of the Chinovnik.ru and OTV-Yugra portals, businessman Eduard Shmonin, as well as a number of unidentified persons to date. Police investigators began proceedings under Part 3. article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Extortion committed by an organized group for the purpose of obtaining property on an especially large scale." On Wednesday, May 3, a source in the law enforcement agencies of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra told URA.RU about this.
“The applicant was a businessman from Nefteyugansk who was subjected to extortion. They demanded an amount of over 10 million rubles from him. Also, the investigation has information about the direct involvement of Eduard Vasilyevich Shmonin in the activities of the site "Chinovnik.ru" ", - the agency's interlocutor comments.
According to the insider, during the investigation of the case, the authors of the portal from other regions of the country, who at different times prepared publications for Chinovnik.ru in exchange for monetary reward, may be brought to criminal responsibility. Operative police groups are working in this direction in Yekaterinburg, Tula, and on the Crimean peninsula, where the hosting of the Internet resource was located.
At the time of publication of the material, it was not possible to obtain an official confirmation of the information - the head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Olga Abmaikina on Wednesday night did not respond to the agency's correspondent.
The sanction of Part 3 of Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for real imprisonment for a term of 7 to 15 years. Eduard Shmonin was also charged under Articles 242 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (distribution of pornography) and 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (libel). Earlier, "Chinovnik.ru" and "OTV-Yugra" were blocked. According to the unofficial version of the security forces, the work of the sites was stopped by the firms-administrators. Companies stopped servicing resources due to the lack of monthly payment for services.
Chinovnik.ru specialized in publishing insults against representatives of the Ugra elite. Events that took place in real life received an original interpretation on the site. According to the investigation, the founders of the illegal business under the guise of journalism regularly demanded money from the heroes of the articles, threatening in case of refusal to publish information discrediting the honor and dignity of a person in the open access. The sale of so-called "negative blocks" was also widespread. OTV-Ugra, as people in uniform believe, played the role of a structure for money laundering in this scheme, and was not an independent full-fledged resource.
Eduard Shmonin was taken into custody on April 5 and is now in the Tyumen pre-trial detention center.