MOSCOW, August 22 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia has upheld severe prison sentence of three men convicted of killing Yury Vlasko, the two-time European junior freestyle wrestling champion, the press service of the prosecutor’s office of the Republic of Buryatia reports Thursday.

In March, Yevgeny Munkuyev was sentenced to 17 years in prison, Anton Sanzhiyev received 16.5 years behind bars and Yevgeny Badmayev was given a 12-year jail term. Munkuyev and Sanzhiyev were found guilty of murder committed by a group of people, while Badmayev was convicted of accessory in murder and threat of violence against a representative of authority.

According to investigators’ and court’s findings, on the night of July 28 to 29, 2017, several participants of a wrestling tournament in the city of Ulan-Ude arrived at the lake Baikal. There, on the request of a friend, Vlasko intervened in a conflict between sportsmen and local residents leading to a fight. One of the defendants stabbed Vlasko in the chest while the other one repeatedly hit him in a head with a metal rod.

In August 2017, two men were arrested, charged with murder of Vlasko, and detained. One of them admitted his involvement in the sportsman’s death but claimed that he was defending himself from the wrestler. Investigators, however, doubted this version as it contradicted testimony of witnesses. The third man allegedly involved in the murder was arrested in October 2017.