Returned to Russia – got 15 years: ex-Yandex employee convicted for donation
27 August 06:13
A 45-year-old programmer Sergey Irin, a former employee of Yandex, has been sentenced in Moscow. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison under the article on high treason for donating to the Ukrainian charity fund Come Back Alive. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Mediazone.
How the trial took place
The sentence was passed by Judge Irina Vyrisheva.
Iryn will serve the first three years in prison, after which he will be transferred to a maximum security colony. In addition to imprisonment, the court also imposed a fine of five million rubles.
The prosecutor’s office had demanded a harsher sentence of 17 years in prison.
During the announcement of the sentence, Irin unfolded a poster in the courtroom that read:
“Putin is a c***hole”.
What she was convicted of
According to Mediazona, on February 27, 2022 – three days after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – Sergei Irin transferred $500 from his Russian bank card to the account of the Ukrainian fund “Come Back Alive”.
After that, he left Russia and lived in Turkey and Sri Lanka. In April 2024, he returned to Nizhny Novgorod to see his family and friends.
Immediately upon his return, he was detained on charges of disorderly conduct (allegedly for swearing in a public place) and sentenced to five days of administrative detention. After his release from the detention center, he was detained again, this time on charges of treason.
Torture and detention
During the investigation, Irin claimed that he was interrogated with a stun gun and then sent by plane to the Lefortovo detention center in Moscow, where people accused of treason are held.
The programmer’s position
Relatives told reporters that Sergey Irin did not deny the transfer of funds and openly explained his actions:
“He deliberately made the transfer for the needs of the Armed Forces because he wanted to help Ukraine. And now he continues to support it, “ one of his relatives was quoted as saying.
Reference
The Come Back Alive Foundation is the largest charitable foundation in Ukraine, founded in 2014 to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The organization purchases equipment and weapons for the army, develops training programs for the military and helps veterans. In May 2024, the foundation was recognized as an “undesirable organization” in Russia.
