The Court Sentenced in Absentia the Publisher of IStories Roman Anin and Journalist Ekaterina Fomina to 8.5 Years in Prison in the Case of Military “Fakes”

Moscow’s Dorogomilovsky court has sentenced publisher and former editor-in-chief of IStories Roman Anin and journalist Ekaterina Fomina to 8.5 years in prison in the case of military “fakes,” TASS reports. They were also banned from administering blogs for 3 years. The sentence for the journalists will be calculated “from the moment of their detention or deportation to the Russian Federation.” 

Anin and Fomina are charged under the article on “fakes” about the Russian army (paragraph “e” of part 2 of article 207. 3 of the Criminal Code). The criminal case was based on IStories videos: two news reviews by Anin and Fomina’s investigation into the killing of civilians in Bucha. 

In her Telegram channel, Ekaterina Fomina pointed out inconsistencies in the prosecution materials: in her investigation, she did not speak about the guilt of the Russian military in the killings, but only pointed out that they were in the city at the time of the shootings. The addresses where the investigation ordered searches were incorrectly specified, and the documents also contained a false date of the journalist’s last entry into Russia. 

According to her, two activists of the pro-government National Liberation Movement (NOD) are listed as prosecution witnesses in the case.

The criminal case against Anin and Fomina became known in the summer of 2024. In June, the court arrested them in absentia, and the journalists were put on the wanted list. Alesya Marokhovskaya, the editor-in-chief of IStories, is also being prosecuted in Russia — she is wanted for her “evasion of duties of a foreign agent.”