Lawyer reveals Blinovskaya's life in prison colony

Yelena Blinovskaya«s lawyer, Bulat Soltakhanov, has revealed what the former blogger and »marathon queen« does in the penal colony. He gave an exclusive comment in a conversation with a journalist from 76.RU.

Yelena Blinovskaya is serving her sentence at women«s penal colony No. 1 (IK-1) in Vladimir Region. There she works as a seamstress. Her defense lawyer said she works a full day and has almost no time left for her own hobbies.

«She is holding up, she is a fighter. But of course it is hard for her. Given that visits with her family and children are limited. The regime at the facility where she is held is not easy. This is the standard situation for such facilities. She spends almost all her time going to work, and she devotes her free time to public events organized by the facility. She tries to take part in amateur performances and so on,» Bulat Soltakhanov said.

Before being transferred to the penal colony, Yelena was held at Moscow«s SIZO-6 pretrial detention center, known as Pechatniki. Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that the former blogger took up paint-by-numbers painting and embroidered pictures with beads. Now she has no time for such pastimes.

«She certainly has no time to paint there. If there is any creative activity, it is within what the facility initiates. Various competitions and amateur performances timed to certain holidays. In general, she tries to take part in all of it somehow. She succeeds. It is not so much about distracting herself [from prison routine] as about getting involved in what the facility initiates,» the lawyer said. «When people held there are offered a chance to take part, she always agrees.»

Yelena Blinovskaya misses her children. When she became a suspect in a criminal case, her youngest daughter was only three years old. The girl is now six.

Yelena«s husband, Alexei, is serving in the zone of the special military operation (Russia»s war in Ukraine). His parents are raising the children. Bulat Soltakhanov said the children are having a hard time.

«They are, without exaggeration, in an extremely difficult situation. Yelena has already borne considerable responsibility. It would seem she could be given a chance to reunite with her family, but unfortunately she has not yet received such a chance. The children are effectively without a mother and without a father. Their grandparents, due to their poor health, can no longer fully care for them, unfortunately,» the lawyer said.

Yelena«s lawyer said she is already eligible for parole. The defense team is now working on the matter.

«It is hard to assess the probabilities, but we hope the court will hear us at a certain instance. She can already file [a parole request]. Work is under way, everything is in process. Both the appellate and cassation instances have been passed. We plan to go further. So far the courts have not accepted our arguments. We hope that in the future something will work out for us,» the human rights advocate said.

If Yelena Blinovskaya has to serve her full term, then, given the time she spent under house arrest and in pretrial detention, she would be released around the end of summer 2027.

We published a long article for Yelena Blinovskaya«s 45th birthday about how she built her business empire and lost it overnight.