Prosecutor requests correctional labor for man accused of journalist Babaeva's death in Crimea

Babaeva died on October 28, 2022, as a result of an accident at a training ground in Crimea. A criminal case was opened under Part 1 of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing death by negligence). The defendant Igor Malev admitted his guilt and repented of his actions. «I ask the court to find Igor Nikolaevich Malev guilty and sentence him to correctional labor for a period of 1 year and 9 months with a deduction of 15% of his salary for the benefit of the state,» the prosecution representative said. He noted that the defendant has no aggravating circumstances, but there are mitigating ones: he has not previously been prosecuted and has a positive characterization.

According to the defendant’s testimony, during tactical medicine classes, in order to exert psychological influence on the trainees, he fired shots from an AK-74 machine gun into the ground at a distance of 1.5 to 2 m from a person, bringing the situation closer to combat. As a result of a ricochet from one of these shots, a journalist died.

Babaeva was the editor-in-chief of the Gazeta.Ru Internet portal from 2013 to 2016. In August 2019, she was appointed head of the regional office of MIA Rossiya Segodnya in Simferopol.