ST. PETERSBURG, May 17 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) - Retired Major General Vladimir Poleshchuk has filed an appeal against a 7-year prison sentence passed on him for misappropriation of housing property belonging to Russia’s Defense Ministry, the Krasnoselsky District Court of St. Petersburg told RAPSI on Wednesday.

Poleshchuk and his assistant, warrant officer Olga Solovyova were convicted and sentenced on May 11. Solovyova received a 2-year suspended sentence.

According to investigation, the Major General has appropriated 16 apartments belonging to the Defense Ministry.

As chief military investigator Alexander Sorochkin said in 2014, probe into Major General in Reserve Poleshchuk was opened over signing social rent contracts with people unrelated to his military department, for properties that were later privatized. “As a result, the personnel on waiting lists were deprived of social housing while the state sustained losses of over 16 million rubles,” he added.

Poleshchuk pleaded guilty in court and shifted the blame on his assistant.