Chechnya’s Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a local woman for ‘committing fraud in conspiracy with a group of people’. Grozny’s Leninsky District Court had sentenced Marina Saraliyeva, an inhabitant of Grozny, to seven years in a penal colony.

Saraliyeva was detained in 2016 after a local resident complained to the Prosecutor’s Office that he gave Saraliyeva ₽210,000 ($3,685) to obtain a ‘state interest-free loan’ of ₽2,000,000 ($35,000). The investigation uncovered other financial crimes. According to the investigators, Saraliyeva, together with her associates, collected and stole more than ₽35,000,000 ($615,000) in disability allowances and social benefits in the period of October 2014 to September 2015.

Saraliyeva solicited money from people, promising to grant them disability allowances in return. In order to give the appearance of fulfilling her obligations in securing adequate medical expertise, Saraliyeva and her associates produced false documents, which were handed out to their victims.