The court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in appeal toughened the punishment for the 60-year-old folklorist and bard Valery Ledkov, who was sentenced in July to a fine of 120 thousand rubles in the case of FBK donations, reported "OVD-Info"** his lawyer Pavel Rusnakov.
The court sentenced him to three years in a general regime penal colony. The prosecution requested four years of imprisonment for him. Ledkov was taken into custody in the courtroom.
A criminal case against Ledkov was initiated in December 2024 due to a monetary transfer to FBK in the amount of 300 rubles after the organization received the status of "extremist." Later, the man was accused of transferring another 1.8 thousand rubles to the fund. However, the court of first instance sentenced Ledkov to a fine, and in appeal, the court fully supported the prosecution's position.
At the end of May, the court in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug sentenced the folklorist's son, librarian Konstantin Ledkov, to 5.5 years in a penal colony. He was accused under three articles at once - for "discrediting" the Russian army, calls for activities aimed against state security, and repeated demonstration of prohibited symbols.
The reason for the persecution of Ledkov Jr. was posts on social networks, one of which was reported to the FSB by a 41-year-old mathematics and computer science teacher at the Naryan-Mar College, Grigory Zhdanov.
* Recognized as an "extremist" organization in Russia.
** Recognized as a "foreign agent" in Russia.