ST. PETERSBURG, November 1 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – Attorney of the St. Petersburg Bar Association Sergey Yegiazaryan has been sentenced to 9.5 years in a high-security prison for extortion and robbery, RAPSI has learnt from the United press service of St. Petersburg courts.

Until the sentence takes effect, his status of lawyer is suspended.

His five accomplices have received prison terms ranging from 2 to 6 years behind bars. A case against one more defendant, who had signed a plea deal, was considered separately; he was imprisoned for 4 years in January.

According to case papers, on June 29, 2018, the defendants assaulted on two businessmen, beat them threatening to kill, stole their Audi А6 and 265,000 rubles and $900 and extorted another car Nissan worth 1.1 million rubles and money in the amount of 1 million rubles.

During searches, pistols, the Kalashnikov gun, ammunition, large sums of money, many bills of debt, luxury cars, including Toyota Land Cruiser 200, Range Rover, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen, BMW, were seized from their premises.

Investigators claimed that Yegiazaryan found entrepreneurs, who wanted to get a loan but failed, acquainted them with his accomplices, who gave them property-secured borrowings. Later, they extorted money and property on the pretext of the debt return.