MOSCOW, October 18 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia will review sentence of the ex-head of the Interior Ministry's Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department, Denis Sugrobov, on November 23, the court’s website reads on Wednesday.
In April, the Moscow City Court sentenced Sugrobov to 22 years in a high-security penal colony for organizing a criminal group, abuse of office and provocation of bribery.
Other Interior Ministry’s officers involved in the case, Salavat Mullayarov, Ivan Kosourov, Vitaly Cherednichenko, Yevgeny Shermanov, Sergey Borisovsky, Sergey Ponomarev and Andrey Nazarov, received prison terms ranging from 17 to 20 years. One more defendant, businessman Igor Skakunov, was sentenced to 4 years in high-security prison.
Sugrobov’s deputy Boris Kolesnikov, who had committed suicide in 2014, was also found guilty. The case against Kolesnikov was closed because of his death.
All convicted officers were stripped of their ranks by court order.
Trial was held behind closed doors because the case is classified as secret.
In July, the court gave a 3-year prison sentence to Gennady Sobolev, ex-officer of the Interior Ministry's Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department, for abuse of authority.
According to investigators, Sugrobov and Kolesnikov tried to provoke a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer by offering him $10,000 a month for his protection. Sugrobov has been charged with organizing a criminal group, abuse of power and bribery.
Kolesnikov was arrested in February 2014. In June, he jumped out of a window during questioning at the Investigative Committee. Later, the Basmanny District Court said no evidence was found of assisted suicide.
In total, 10 people became defendants in this case with case materials making about 400 volumes. Thirty persons were recognized as aggrieved parties, thirteen of whom filed suits seeking to recover in total 218 million rubles (about $3.5 million) from the defendants. Later, victims withdrew their claims.
Sugrobov, 41, is one of the youngest police generals. He obtained the rank of Lieutenant General at the age of 36.