Blogger Lerchek's criminal case suspended until she recovers

MOSCOW, June 19 – RIA Novosti. The criminal case of blogger Lerchek (Valeria Chekalina), which was suspended until she recovered from stage four stomach cancer, has been transferred for consideration to another judge, follows from materials available to RIA Novosti.

In February, after the birth of her fourth child, Chekalina was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer. The Gagarinsky Court of Moscow in March separated her case into separate proceedings and suspended it until recovery, replacing house arrest with a ban on certain actions that does not restrict movement. Currently, the blogger is undergoing chemotherapy at the Blokhin National Medical Research Center for Oncology.

As follows from the materials, the case was transferred from Judge Ekaterina Kuzmina, who suspended it, to Judge Dzhemal Kurbanov. However, the court itself has not yet received an appeal from the prosecutor’s office.

Earlier this week, a law enforcement source told RIA Novosti that the prosecutor's office sent the applicant's appeal to the court, demanding a repeat forensic examination of Lerchek. The citizen, outraged by the fact that Chekalina, despite a serious illness, trains in the gym, asked the supervisory agency to initiate an inspection.

Lerchek's defense learned about the transfer of the case from press reports and declined to comment, explaining that lawyers are required to be notified of such procedural actions, but they did not receive any notifications.

Together with the blogger, her ex-husband Artem Chekalin was involved in the case, sentenced to 7 years in prison and a fine of more than 194 million rubles. He appealed the verdict and is in jail. The couple's former partner, Roman Vishnyak, admitted guilt, entered into a pre-trial agreement and received 2.5 years in prison.