MOSCOW, September 19 - RAPSI. The court upheld the suspended sentence of an Interior Ministry major general convicted of shooting in Moscow, the Russian Legal Information Agency reported.

The Moscow City Court dismissed the appeal filed by Major General Yevgeny Novikov, who sought a court acquittal.

A Moscow district court earlier convicted Novikov for hooliganism and illegal arms possession. The general was also sentenced to three-year probation.

Meanwhile, Novikov was neither deprived of his rank nor fined.

Novikov, 54, was driving his Volkswagen Touareg when he got lost in an industrial area in Moscow on February 5, 2010. He stopped to ask security guards for directions, but then scuffled with them and was disarmed after he began shooting.

According to the security guards, the general was drunk.

Novikov was detained on the same day, but was later released.