Russian blogger gets three-year suspended sentence on pornography charges as authorities step up crackdown on online erotic content
A Moscow court sentenced Russian blogger Sonya Marmeladova, whose real name is Sofia Vershinina, to a suspended three-year prison term in a case involving the distribution of pornography online. The court also fined her 4.8 million rubles.
Prosecutors had sought an actual prison term of three and a half years. Vershinina admitted guilt, expressed remorse, and asked the court for a suspended sentence.
According to the prosecution, Vershinina advertised paid private chats on a public Telegram channel that gave subscribers access to pornographic photos and videos of her.
News of the criminal case against the blogger emerged in late May, and Russian authorities detained Vershinina in late July.
The outlet Ostorozhno Novosti and the Telegram channel Baza, which has ties to law enforcement, reported that Russian law enforcement has stepped up its crackdown on services popular among sex workers and producers of erotic content, including OnlyFans, as well as on models who create such content. In addition to Sonya Marmeladova, a case over the distribution of pornography was also opened against blogger Diana Shurygina.
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