A Moscow court has imposed a 12-year prison sentence on Russian journalist Darya Shipacheva after finding her guilty of treason, a legal figure that the country's authorities use recurrently against opponents, activists, and information professionals.
"The court has sentenced Shipacheva to 12 years in prison in a general regime penal colony and a fine of 300,000 rubles (3,280 euros)," procedural sources have indicated to the news agency Interfax, which has detailed that the trial was held behind closed doors.
Additionally, the magistrate has ordered the seizure of one and a half million rubles (16,400 euros) from the reporter, a common practice in criminal proceedings linked to the alleged financing of illicit activities, although the specific details supporting the sentence have not yet been disclosed.
The informant pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators during the process, for which she has received the minimum penalty provided for the crime of treason in Article 275 of the Russian Penal Code, according to the opposition portal Meduza.
Shipacheva, who had worked for media outlets such as the Russian conglomerate RBC and Forbes magazine, was arrested in her home in Moscow in April 2025 and later transferred to the Rostov region, where she reached an agreement with the authorities in charge of the case.
In recent years, Russian courts have issued numerous convictions for treason against citizens accused of cooperating with Ukraine or of participating, or planning to participate, in acts of sabotage since the beginning of the military offensive against the neighboring country, launched in February 2022 by order of President Vladimir Putin.