Ombudsman for Entrepreneurs Boris Titov called on the children's ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova to facilitate the review of the verdict against the Russian athlete Elizabeth Troshchenkova. On August 9, she was convicted with her husband for large-scale fraud. They left their three-year-old son Paul, who was now taken by his relatives.

Salary without work

For 27 years, Elizaveta, 27, competed in equestrian competitions in Russia and Europe, taking prizes, and became a member of the Russian team. On the page on social networks, Elizabeth constantly posted photos with horses and videos from the competitions.

The athlete studied the specialty "management" and got a job at the corporation under the Ministry of Economic Development - one of the branches of JSC "Special Economic Zones".

“First, she was hired by the staff as an engineer, then transferred to another department to be promoted. The position was created for her, ”explained the girl’s lawyer Alexander Tregubov. “Yes, she got a fictitious job placement, as many athletes do - they are listed as workers, but they are members of sports teams.”

Since January 2015, Troshchenkova received a salary - she, like everyone, was credited with money on the card. According to the prosecution, at first she was assigned a salary of 70 thousand rubles, and then he was raised to 90 thousand rubles. Together with the girl in the same company, but in a different department, her husband and part-time trainer Vladimir Gubanov were listed.

Accountants after two years drew attention to the "dead souls" and turned to the police, who began the check. By that time, the damage from the actions of Troshchenkova was estimated at about three million rubles.

Elizabeth returned the money to the company while the investigation was ongoing. However, this did not save her from criminal prosecution. According to lawyer Alexander Tregubov, her husband and his subordinate, the head of the department, who issued Troshchenkova for work, appeared on the dock with her.

At the same time, on the page of Lisa Troshchenkova in social networks, another place of work is indicated - the equestrian center "Joy". There RT said that the girl had never worked for them.

"Sits in a pre-trial detention center, but does not win medals"

The Simonovsky District Court closed its eyes to the fact that the woman had compensated for the damage, and the little son of Elizabeth and Vladimir would be left without parents. Instead of a suspended sentence or postponement of a sentence until the child’s 14th birthday, on August 9, the court sentenced Troshchenkov to three years in prison for especially large-scale fraud. Elizabeth's husband and his subordinate were also convicted under this article.

Relatives took the three-year-old Pasha. Also, after the verdict, Elizabeth was removed from the Russian national equestrian team.

The defense of the athlete, her husband and former colleague challenged the verdict. At the time of the appeal, the woman is being held in custody in the common cell of the women's pre-trial detention center No. 6 in the Moscow region of Pechatniki. Together with the other 19 prisoners, she signed a collective letter to the Commissioner for the Rights of Entrepreneurs Boris Titov. In it, the authors complain, among other things, that from the moment they were detained they were "blackmailed by their family, children, relatives, intimidated, insulted, tortured by night interrogations."

After this, Titov and members of the Public Monitoring Commission met with Troshchenkova.

“We are not killers, not drug dealers, not terrorists,” said the business ombudsman. “We are talking about economic crimes, and the fate of the convicted child definitely requires increased attention.”

Representatives of the PMC also consider the preventive measure chosen by the court to be too harsh. “According to article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, businessmen are not detained unless they are actively involved in entrepreneurial activities,” said Ivan Melnikov, Executive Secretary of the PMC, who was present at the meeting in the pre-trial detention center. “The crime she is charged with does not pose a public danger either.” Even her sport is not dangerous to others. Nevertheless, the champions are sitting in jail instead of winning medals. ”

“The court does not take into account children's rights”

Elizaveta Troshchenkova is not the only one who finds herself in such a situation, Titov states: “According to the statistics of the Supreme Court, in 2018 the postponement of serving a sentence by a sentence to a pregnant woman convicted with a child under 14 years old (paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Article 398) Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation), applied only to 1613 convicted persons, in 2017 - 1524. ”

Titov sent a letter to the children's ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova (available to RT), in which he said that he received letters from arrested or convicted entrepreneurs, including children under 14 years old. Moreover, according to the business ombudsman, the preliminary investigation bodies and the courts, "as a rule, the rights of their young children are practically not taken into account."

Elizaveta Troshchenkova, Titov says, attributes her criminal prosecution to the criminalization of corporate conflicts.

As a result of the verdict of the court, the three-year-old son of Troshchenkova and Gubanova was deprived of both parents at the same time, the business ombudsman continues. The alleged corpus delicti refers to crimes against property, the damage in the criminal case is fully repaid, he emphasizes.

The problem of the unjustified choice of a preventive measure (real term instead of conditional or deferral), according to Titov, is most clearly manifested in relation to entrepreneurs. “The incriminated acts, as a rule, do not belong to the category of violent ones, and isolation from society in the overwhelming majority of cases leads to negative consequences for business and, as a result, for families of employees involved in it,” the business ombudsman summed up.