MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. The Moscow City Court has sentenced the ringleader of the Shaltay Boltay (Humpty Dumpty) hacking group, Vladimir Anikeyev, to two years in jail for unauthorized access to and illicit tampering with computer data, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom on Thursday.
"The court ruled to find Anikeyev guilty under Article 272.3 of the Russian Criminal Code [unauthorized access to computer data protected by law, committed by a group of people acting in conspiracy, resulting in significant damage] and sentence him to two years in a general regime penal colony," the judge said.
The court conducted the trial behind closed doors as the files are highly classified. The state prosecutor demanded to sentence Anikeyev to two and a half years in jail. The court ruled that Anikeyev, who has spent nearly eight months in a pre-trial detention facility, will be granted credit for that time spent in custody.
Anikeyev and his alleged accomplices - Alexander Filinov and Konstantin Teplyakov - were arrested in November 2016. Anikeyev admitted his guilt and testified against the other alleged members of the group. He was charged with six counts of illegally accessing computer data.
In particular, Anikeyev is accused of hacking the email accounts of a spokeswoman for the Russian prime minister, Natalya Timakova, and Deputy Chief of the Domestic Policy Department in the Russian Presidential Administration, Timur Prokopenko. However, they were not recognized as victims.
A source told TASS the case files included hacked email accounts of Russia state TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov, Russian Presidential Aide Andrey Belousov and staff members of Russia’s top lender Sberbank and the Summa group.
Attorney Ruslan Koblev said Anikeyev apologized to the victims and regrets his actions. "My client is satisfied with the verdict," he said. The lawyer plans to file for an early release on parole. "Under the law, we can do this in two days," Koblev added.