MOSCOW, November 22 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Dorogomilovsky District Court has sentenced ex-chief of a guard and convoy regiment Vitaly Sinichev to 1.5 years in penal colony settlement for handing cell phones to detainees, the press service of Moscow’s prosecutor’s office reports Thursday.

The former officer of the Interior Ministry’s Moscow directorate has been found guilty of abuse of rank.

According to case papers, on July 11, Sinichev in the scope of employment in the court’s detainee holding room gave two detainees five cell phones. He therefore broke the Interior Ministry’s order on approval of internal regulations of detention facilities and official bylaws, the statement reads.