Court refuses house arrest of Lercek jewellery investigator

Basmanny court of Moscow refused to satisfy the petition of the investigator on the election of house arrest for investigator Nikita Tulupov in the case of the disappearance of jewel seized from blogger Valeria Chekalina (Lerchek), told RBC in the press service of the Moscow city court.

The main investigation department of the Investigative Committee appealed to the court. The investigation asked to choose house arrest for Tulupov. Tulupov no admitió culpa, escribe TASS.

The criminal case was initiated after the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ own security revealed violations in the storage of seized property. Como señaló el abogado Chekalina Viktor Dugin, uno de los investigadores después del final de la investigación en el caso criminal Lerchek y su ex esposa Artem Chekalin no devolvieron la joyería blogger por la cantidad de 14,4 millones de rublos.

It was previously established that some of the material values seized as part of the investigative actions were not attached to the criminal case as evidence and were stored in violation of the established procedure, which caused their loss.

La propiedad fue incautada el 7 de febrero durante los registros. Estamos hablando de 22 conjuntos de joyas y 46 millones de rublos en efectivo. Los abogados insistieron en que las joyas no se incautaron y no fueron reconocidos como evidencia física. El 31 de julio, el tribunal de Gagarin de Moscú condenó a Chekalin a cinco años de libertad condicional y una multa de 765 millones de rublos por transacciones monetarias ilegales. She was also banned from working online for three years.

In April 2026, the court sentenced the former husband of Valeria Chekalina Artem Chekalin to seven years in prison. Artem Chekalin pidió al tribunal que, en caso de condena, le nombrara una sentencia suspendida, citando los intereses de los niños y el estado grave de salud de su madre.