‘I hope this stigma stays with him for life’: Two years ago, reporter Alina Shcheglova told Meduza about being raped. Now her attacker — a fellow journalist — is finally going to prison.

Two years ago, Meduza wrote about Alina Shcheglova, a journalist in Veliky Novgorod who came forward about being raped by local newspaper editor-in-chief Mikhail Bogolyubov. She sought publicity for her case after filing charges privately and realizing that police would ignore the attack without public pressure. For the past two years, Shcheglova has testified in courtrooms that Bogolyubov sexually assaulted her, while his lawyers blamed her for the incident, arguing that she never resisted Bogolyubov's advances, claiming that she delayed going to the police, and characterizing her as a "promiscuous" woman. On September 30, 2021, the Novgorod Regional Court upheld Bogolyubov's April 2021 conviction by a district court, sustaining his four-year prison sentence. Meduza special correspondent Irina Kravtsova, who wrote about Alina Shcheglova two years ago, sat down with her to talk about the case, whether she regrets speaking out, and how the whole ordeal has changed her. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/10/18/i-hope-this-stigma-stays-with-him-for-life