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Former editor-in-chief of Internet news agency URA sentenced

Leninsky district court in Russian Urals’ Yekaterinburg sentenced former editor-in-chief of the Internet news agency URA.RU Aksana Panova to two years in suspension and a fine

© ITAR-TASS/Anton Butsenko

YEKATERINBURG, January 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Leninsky district court in Russian Urals’ Yekaterinburg sentenced former editor-in-chief of the Internet news agency URA.RU Aksana Panova to two years in suspension and a fine, finding her guilty of extortion and coercion to strike a deal.

She was also banned to work in journalism for two years. Panova was cleared of the charge of cashing illegally acquired money.

The court verdict has not come into legal force yet.

At the trial the public prosecutor asked to sentence Panova to five years in suspension with a probation period of four years and a one-million-rouble fine ($30.6 thousand) and banned her to work in journalism for a period of two years.

The trial against the former URA.RU editor-in-chief began on July 3, 2013. Panova was accused of cashing 12 million roubles ($367.4 thousand), which the Internet news portal URA.RU owned. She was also charged with the transfer of illegally cashed money to the accounts of several fly-by-night companies and the extortion from one million to three million roubles under the threat of disseminating the information defiling several business people.

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