MOSCOW, March 22 (RAPSI) – A court in Russia’s Kemerovo Region on Monday sentenced a 28-year attorney to 10 years in high-security prison for extortion and illegal deprivation of freedom, the press service of the regional Investigative Committee reports.

His accomplices received jail terms ranging from 9 to 11 years.

The court held that in 2017 local entrepreneurs turned to the lawyer after 33 million rubles disappeared from the bank accounts of their firms. The defendant found an alleged thief and invited him to his office. They beat the victim and demanded their money. The man insisted that he knew nothing about the stolen funds but failed. They restrained him in a flat and beat him for 2 weeks. Later, they understood that the victim was not involved in the crime and freed him, the statement reads.