MOSCOW, December 19 - RAPSI. The Moscow City Court validated on Monday NGO member Alexei Mikhailov's acquittal, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com). Mikhailov was charged with fraud.

Mikailov, a member of the Center for Economic and Political Studies, was earlier acquitted, but the prosecutor's office challenged the judgment.

Investigators alleged that Mikhailov had planned to misappropriate the center's money and arranged the sale of its building. The prosecutor sought a guilty verdict on charges of fraud, attempted fraud and money laundering, and a 12-year sentence.

Mikhailov's attorney said his client was elected chairman of the center's council comprising as few as 11 members.

According to the attorney, the center sold its building in central Moscow to the Argumenty I Fakty publishers.

At the same time, Mikhailov and his colleagues were unaware that Grigory Yavlinsky had leased the building to his Yabloko party for 49 years, the attorney said.
In his view, Yavlinsky considered the sale of the building unlawful.