An Ufa pensioner who transferred money to the mother of a journalist accused of extremism was sentenced to three years probation

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Ufa on Monday sentenced pensioner Ilmira Bikbaeva, who transferred several thousand rubles to the bank card of the mother of opposition journalist Airat Dilmukhametov. Bikbaeva was given a suspended sentence of three years’ imprisonment for “financing extremism” informs “Idel.Realities”.

Mitigating circumstances in the sentencing were Bikbaeva’s lack of convictions, her status as a labor veteran, retirement age, positive characteristics, state of health, the judge noted. The smartphone from which the woman transferred money was confiscated in favor of the state, writes Kommersant. The state prosecutor earlier requested for 59-year-old Ilmira Bikbaeva 4 years of imprisonment in a penal colony.

“I am a labor veteran, I worked as an accountant for 40 years and found myself in such a situation,” the convict told reporters. – I had no intentions of separating from the Russian Federation. Do I look like a militant, a terrorist? In general, I am a person far from politics. I had to quit my job: people are afraid of me, although I have worked in one place for almost 11 years. “

According to FSB investigators, the pensioner, having transferred 1,500 rubles in two payments in 2018 and 4,500 rubles in seven payments in 2019 to the bank card of the journalist’s mother Agilyash Dilmukhametova, “made provision of funds that were deliberately intended for the preparation and commission of extremist crimes by Dilmukhametov.” Rosfinmonitoring added Ilmira Bikbaeva to the list of extremists and terrorists. She was blocked from bank accounts and allowed to spend only 10 thousand rubles a month on her livelihoods, as well as make mandatory payments and receive social benefits within limited limits.

The woman was charged under Part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (financing of extremist activities). Bikbaeva did not admit her guilt, claiming that she had provided assistance to the mother of Ayrat Dilmukhametov, since after the arrest of her son, she “had little means of subsistence.”

At one of the court sessions, witnesses, on whose testimony the FSB investigation was based, stated that the pensioner in social networks “encouraged residents to commit extremist actions”, and also “was actively involved in discrediting state authorities and law enforcement agencies”.

In court, Ilmira Bikbaeva said that she made one donation in 2018 to help pay for the trip of Ayrat Dilmukhametov and her father, the famous Bashkir writer and historian Zigat Sultanov, to the village of Sunarchi in the Orenburg region to establish a memorial stone to the victims of the genocide of the Bashkir population that occurred in May 1736. The second transfer in 2018 was made, according to the pensioner, as her contribution to the installation of a commemorative stone.

The pensioner’s defense also pointed out that the sentence to Ayrat Dilmukhametov came into force only in December 2020, when payments to his mother had not been made for a long time.

The defendant’s lawyer Dmitry Kazakov noted in court that Ayrat Dilmukhametov “did not ask for money for weapons, for war, for revolution.” And Ilmira Bikbayeva herself noted that the investigation “did not establish and did not prove the intent to finance precisely the possible criminal activity, and not the satisfaction of others, for example, the personal needs of Dilmukhametov, or the achievement of legitimate political goals by him” (for example, his nomination in the presidential elections Bashkiria).

Ilmira Bikbaeva said that since her case “is under the control of the FSB,” she does not expect anything good. “In our country, in my opinion, there are no acquittals. If there is, then only one percent, and then it goes only to the official and the oligarchs. But I still hope for a fair court decision, ”she said.