In the Ryazan region, a man was sentenced to 11.5 years in prison for drug trafficking and laundering illegal income in bitcoins on an especially large scale. This was reported by the press service of the Ryazan region prosecutor’s office.

The decision was made by the Ryazan Regional Court. Previously, the Ryazan Regional Court issued an acquittal in this case, but in June it was overturned by the Supreme Court.

“The defendant, through transfers using the Internet, received funds into a virtual account in the form of the virtual cryptocurrency Bitcoin, equivalent to an amount of at least 8,240,278 rubles 69 kopecks, as a reward for the illegal serial production of a narcotic drug on an especially large scale,” the prosecutor’s office said .

The regional court considered that this does not constitute legalization of proceeds from crime. But the prosecutor’s office did not agree.

“The court imposed a sentence of imprisonment, finally determining, based on the totality of crimes, the term to be served as 11 years and 6 months in a high-security correctional colony,” the prosecutor’s office added.

In July, Russia’s Supreme Court overturned part of a drug trafficking defendant’s acquittal, saying converting cryptocurrency into rubles could be considered money laundering.

Recently, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Anatoly Aksakov, assured that after the legalization of cryptocurrencies, all transactions with digital assets will be “under the hood.”