Vertyakhovskaya Nadezhda Ivanovna

In Chelyabinsk on September 15, 2025, a criminal case was opened against 64-year-old local resident, eco-activist Nadezhda Vertyakhskaya. She was accused of libel against a judge. Activist's criminal prosecution stemmed from two comments she made on the website "sudyrossii.rf" about Judge Anne Shmelova of the Soviet District Court of Chelyabinsk, who sentenced lawyer Vladimir Kazantsev, who regularly assisted Chelyabinsk eco-activists in court. In October 2022, Judge Shmeleva sentenced a lawyer to four years in a penal colony in a fraud case. Later the human rights defender died in the colony. According to the security forces' version, Vertyakovskaya in October 2022 after the verdict against Kazantsev was announced wrote: 'Judge Shmelyova considered the criminal case of human rights defender Kazantsev for two years. Not a single hearing began on time. Delays from one to one and a half hours. The hearing could have been postponed and the lawyer from Moscow flew in vain. The sentencing also took place with a delay and on the day after the scheduled date. She never apologized for being late. She spoke so quietly that even the lawyers had to ask her to repeat herself. But when she made comments to those present and to Vladimir, when he consulted with lawyers, she screamed throughout the hall. Almost all motions from the defense side were rejected. All motions by the prosecution were granted. In my opinion, an indecent lady and the mantle received undeservedly. No respect for those present. THERE IS NO QUESTION OF ANY IMPARTIALITY. Did not allow audio recording of the session, photographing. The activist published her second comment in February 2025, two months after Kazantsev's death in the colony: "With her verdict, Judge Anna Shmyleva buried a decent person, a father of two children, a human rights activist, and an environmental activist from the city of Chelyabinsk, Vladimir Nikolaevich Kazantsev. Vladimir was sentenced on two fabricated episodes, which was clear to all the listeners present at the court hearings in Vladimir's case. Vladimir died in IK-11 g. Kopeisk on December 17, 2024 from a heart attack. He was 52 years old. He did not admit his guilt. He could not count on parole without admitting guilt. This was the first criminal case that Judge Shmelyova considered after being appointed to the position of judge. According to the investigation, the comments contain knowingly false information that "discredits the professional honor and dignity of Shemelova A.N." and undermining its business reputation. The case was initiated following a denunciation by Dmitry Vlasyuk, a 23-year-old student at the Polytechnic Institute of the South Ural State University. He told the security forces that the activist should have expressed herself "more delicately.